The hills either side of the cottage are carpeted with thick forest...

So we grabbed the wellies, crossed the river, and started putting small amounts of food along mammal trails to see what would show up. I put out a couple of trail cameras to recce the area too.

It was already early evening so my mind wandered to the first camera trap idea...

The last time I had visited the area I'd had my first success setting up a DSLR camera trap across this river, but I wanted to try and better it. So seeing as there was a larger fallen tree stretching the whole way it seemed like a good start.

It took us a while messing about with camera angles and lighting position before we were happy. It took four flashes to light the scene, two on the fallen tree and two on the other side of the river to light up the background. By the time we'd finished setting up we both had a cloud of midges to call unwelcome friends, and we were itching (literally!) to get back inside and away from them!

All that was left was to leave a little food out to entice the Pine Marten, and we were set...