We Have Lights!

NestCam is almost ready!

Before modification - The Eshwood box with no lights and original colour camera

With lights (only on half brightness in this pic) and new camera

We think the glare on the floor of the box is from the cardboard we've used to cover the inside of the original roof (a semi-transparent lid - the box originally relied on ambient light). We'll change it for something matt black/dark soon to remove the glare, and I also need to point the camera down by roughly half an inch. Birdman has had enough of going up and down ladders for one day - so it'll have to wait for now! The box now has 6 white LEDs in it - housed inside Meccano to stop any birds from pecking the wires. He's going to get some gadget or other to allow control of the lighting - which will work like a dimmer switch. The strip of Meccano at the back of the box was put there so I can measure the depth of any nest (fingers crossed!) - each hole is 1/2 inch apart. It needs to be secured down, though (or I could just draw a line on the back of the box with a pencil).

So, there we go ... almost done, but not quite! Just a few more tweaks. Then all I'll need is a couple of occupants! It's bound to stay empty after all this faffing on, isn't it? :o)


A quick drive over to Homebase in Berwick this afternoon produced a year tick.

38. Common Buzzard

and back in the garden at long last

39. Goldfinch