Pondcam Blog

Up and running again

On monday night finally upped the RAM as suggested and the results seemed to have worked - the cam has been running with no problems since monday night. I also repositioned the cam in the middle of the frog spawning area of the pond. This has resulted in some rather bizarre images, but well worth looking at. The cam had to be turned over to achieve this so it is now upside down but the images are so abstract (especially when there is a lot of activity...) that is does not really matter. The only hint is that whan all the frogs disappear, and the spawn is left as a sort of 'screensaver' the image is darker at the top than the bottom.

I have not installed the new cam yet. The current one is working well and i will await the new pc (which will be a couple of weeks) which will allow several cams to operate at once.

Tubecam Mk 2

I have put some pictures in the Pondcam photo's section is the new model I have been developing. It consists of a short (150mm) 35mm diameter acrylic tube with 2 5mm thick acryilic ends containing the camera, which is a Microsoft version which is a good fit without requiring stripping down. I made the end where the wire enters by cutting the disc in half and drilling the hole so that it fits tightly around the cable. I glued it in position with superglue and once set I injected some epoxy resin I had left over from another job to form a plug about 20mm thick. Once set I glued the disc onto the other end using the Tensol 70 acrylic cement to ensure a really good bond. No cracking this time! I drilled holes in the discs and made the discs over sized to allow fixing points for weights or as shown at the moment carabiners. Before gluing on the second disc and sealing the cam I stuffed loads of silicone gel pillows inside both to support the cam and keep it level and to absorb moisture. The only real downer is the short cable (only about 50cm long) I can add an extension cable but it won't be water proof, so the range will be limited. Fortunately the interesting stuff is in the shallows.

I'll test it tonight. and aim to install it at the weekend. It will be just in time, the current cam is playing up already, although I suspect that the problem is with the pc...

Pond activity is still high, tonight I saw 35 frogs and a new peak count of 9 newts (including a several young males) and three new batches of frog spawn. No sign of toads yet but in amongst the rushes there may be some lurking.

We are back online

Pondcam is now active again after the winter break and a few set backs with the pc and the webhosting service. Currently broadcasting random close up images of various bits of frog. I am also putting the finishing touches to my new tubecam design. After curing for a couple of days I will retest with a view to installing at the weekend. This will allow the current model to be updated, possibly into an IR nightvision cam.

You've heard of Schrodinger's Cat...

Well ladies and gentlemen I present Chris's Frogs. Proof that observation of the subject infuences its behaviour. While taking pictures of the frogs i noted that the amorous male frogs were clustering around the tube where the cam entered the water. and seemed VERY interested in it. I don't know how much of a role vision plays in frog mating behaviour but i wonder whether the frogs were seeing their reflections in the tube and responding to them.

Frogs on the March

I went out to take some pictures of the frogs this morning and while sitting quietly they all returned. This morning I counted 62 frogs and over 25 mating pairs, and of course there were bound to be some which i didn't see...

Plus there was already a ball of spawn the size of a small football.

Pictures to be posted soon...

March Update

Well I'd better get cracking because there is a lot of activity in the pond. We have counted up to 20 frogs in the pond at a time with up to 8 mating pairs, and Nicole found some spawn today... I have also seen both male and female smooth newts in the pond and we are on the lookout for toads now that plenty of vegetation has been left to encourage the spawning we had two years ago.

February Update

Observant viewers (or viewer if there is only one of you out there) will have noticed that the pondcam has been down for a while. This was following the disastrous flooding of the glass box pondcam and the failure of subsequent attempts to revive the cam in a variety of new formats (photos to be posted soon) all which leaked in the same place, the access point for the webcam cable. It seems that the cable coating, which I assume is polyethylene or polypropylene (both of which do not bond well to sealants), would always come away from the silicone whch surrounds it as the cam moved about in the water causing it to leak. 

A solution to this occurred to me as the form of a tube sealed at one end to stop the water getting in but open where the cable enters, but covered with a flexible pvc hose to keep the rain out. Acrylic would be clear enough to give a good image and when fixed with acrylic cement would create a watertight seal. I thought i could cut a short section of rod and make a plug to glue in the tube.

I purchased a couple of 1m long acrylic tubes from a company called ... clearplasticsupplies.co.uk. I also bought a couple of rods which i thought would fit, but did not, and were so hard could not be easily sanded down to fit. So i bought some blocks of acrylic from Hindleys of Sheffield, and machined them to fit the tubes exactly. I then used an acrylic cement called Tensol 70 on their recommendation. However, it turned out that as the cement cured it expanded and the slight gap between the tube and the rod meant that the tube cracked. However i tested it and it seems the cracks were superficial and did not cause a leak. To provide some support I attached the Logitech webcam to a wooden dowel shaped to fit, which i thought would allow the cam to be positioned and rotated in the tube. It worked quite well but for two problems:

1: the tube was badly cracked where the cam sat, so i had to pack the bottom to raise the cam above  the cracks. This had the unfortunate side effect of making the cam unuseable in shallow water, which is where the light is brightest and the tadpoles are hatched. I have laid it at an angle but it is not ideal. I will work on another cam and look into using this one with IR lights for deep pond work...

2: the pc seems to have died! It is being fixed but still no pictures...sorry...Soon though. I promise!

Mid October update

Hi Barry,

Thanks for the update, your fishcam is looking good, and we might look into trying that as an option. Anyone who hasn't had a look do so to see a cam that is actually working:

http://10.0.0.13/broadcamauto.html?src=1&speed=1

We looked into this type of off the shelf cam (available here) but didn't go for it due to the cost and Ithink that Steen had some technical concerns. Barry's seems to be working well and did not cost the earth (although the  last time i bought a camera off eBay i only worked for 3 weeks) so maybe we'll give it a go.

Since we last posted anything the GlassCam Rig has started to leak and has been pulled out of the pond again to prevent further damage, so for the last month or so has only showed spectacular images of the decking besides the pond. I keep meaning to to take the box apart and fix it, but with my wife expecting a baby imminently i have had other things to do! I might be able to use some of my paternity leave... ;o)

Sorry about the lack of developments, but please do keep watching, i am sure i can get something done soon...

 

Nice to hear we aren't alone

Hi Barry,

thanks for the comments, in case anyone hasn't read his comments have a look and follow the link to his site. It is also reassuring to learn that other people are having the same problems with leaks, condensation etc. The set up we have at the moment is working well but the lack of light beneath the green duckweed infested surface is the main problem. So we are currently using it above water, looking for snakes! Keep you posted...

Chris & Steen

Meadowcam 2

This is the second film, made using the third model of the cable car, this time a simple model made from meccano.

I think this is the most successful so far, although it has been severely compressed and subsequently looks a bit rubbish: