We primarily use wired IP cameras throughout the garden and the main makes of camera we use are from Reolink and Hikvision. They are IP cameras with infra red for capturing images at night. The wired IP cameras work using POE (Power over Ethernet,) this makes it easier for wired installation as the 12v power needed to run the cameras is past along two strands of the Ethernet data cable, therefore you only need to run one cable to the camera. However you will need POE enabled switches in your network. You may ask why don't you use WiFi wouldn't it be simpler? I have tried it but I found that unless you can flood your garden with a very good WiFi signal I found reviewing the footage at 8x high speed it was very flaky and the images buffered. With WiFi you still need a 12v supply cable to deliver power to the camera anyway so you might as well use POE. There are some WiFi cameras that use batteries and solar panel chargers. But again it is down to how good a WiFi signal you have in your home,

For the nest boxes and the hedgehog feeders we have used the mini dome cameras from Hikvision. Most ip cameras have a fixed focus as they are intended for property surveillance, but for close up work in nest boxes you need a closer focus. With the 4Mp & 6Mp cameras I worked out how to modify the Hikvision mini dome cameras so that you can alter the focus for the close up focus needed in a confined space. Unfortunately with the new 8Mp mini dome cameras the lens are now pre-focused and they can't be adjusted for focal length. For the two new Starling nest boxes I had to remove the plastic dome and I turned an aluminum housing that fitted over the lens that could take a 4x magnification close up lens that I obtained from www.wildviewcameras.co.uk. They also supply some waterproof Blacktac putty which I used to fill in the gap between the lens mount and the camera cover although with the cameras being in the nest box there is little chance of water ingress but it all helps to keep the internal electrics from getting damp. It will be interesting to see how well the cameras fair over the winter.

The only problem with the Hikvision mini dome cameras was that all but one of them didn't come with built in microphones and these had to be retro fitted and involved adding a 12v supply as I couldn't get any passive microphones that were suitable.

For general watching of the hedgehogs on our patio, monitoring the hedgehog highways etc. we use the Reolink ip cameras with built in microphones. They have proved very reliable and the Reolink client software that comes with them to view and download the recordings is much better than the rather clunky IVMS-4200 software that comes with the Hikvision cameras.

For all the outdoor cameras we have used the Reolink ip cameras. I must admit we prefer these cameras over the Hikvision cameras as the app that comes with them is much easier to use than the Hikvision app. Also the Reolink cameras download in a format that I can take straight into Final Cut Pro on the Mac. With the Hikvision cameras I can download on the Mac but I have to convert them on a Windows laptop into a format that I can use in Final Cut pro on the Mac.

For more information on how we wired our network see 'How we set up our camera Network' in the Techie stuff section.

Trail cameras

We also have four trail cameras which we use to monitor what is going in our pond and on our lawn. The nice thing about these is that we can move them about the garden easily to try and capture different activities. Both of the trail cameras can take either photos and or video. The reason for buying the Bushnell NatureView HD is that it is even more versatile in that it comes with two additional close focus lenses which offer minimum focal distances of 46 and 60cm / f460mm and f600mm, these enable you to capture clear depth of field in your images even when the subject gets up really close. 

The down side of using trail cameras is that they run off batteries which isn't very environmentally friendly and not very cheap to run as the Browning Recon Force Edge uses 8 AA batteries and the Bushnell NatureView HD uses 12 AA batteries.

We did try using rechargeable batteries but they would only last about 2-3 days before needing a recharge. Fortunately both models have a power supply port so you can run them off an external power supply. I now have them both running off a 12v rechargeable battery that is recharged using a solar panel, see this page for information of how I put together the solar recharge system.

The other slight downside to the trail cameras is that they are not linked to our network so that we have to go in to the garden and remove the storage SD cards from the trail cameras and bring them into the house to look at them on the computer. Where as with the networked cameras you can monitor them in real time and can easily review any footage captured on the cameras.

For all their disadvantages to the network cameras I have obtained some good video from the trail cameras.

Below is a list of the make, model and specification of the cameras used in our garden: