Camera Trapping: A Lens Into a Secret World
By Owen
April 2025
All it takes is one simple piece of technology, and a whole new world opens up.
Camera traps are wonderful tools. They are motion-activated cameras, used to capture photos and videos of animals in their natural habitat, without interference by us. They can shed light into some of the least understood species in the world, in a non-invasive way. From elusive species like snow leopards in the Himalayas to pangolins in tropical Asia, camera traps can be used across the world to cover some of the most amazing species.
However, camera traps play an important role in monitoring species populations and distributions much closer to home - even in St Andrews.
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You’d be forgiven for thinking that camera traps are used for rare and exotic animals, and that they have no use in a small town like St Andrews. I thought the same, until I joined the biodiversity literacy vertically-integrated project (VIP). The opportunity to gain credits by working on a research project really stood out to me, because I knew that the chance to gain experience monitoring biodiversity would help me in the future and help to make me feel more connected to the local wildlife. This semester, this has really been enhanced because I’ve been lucky enough to lead the camera trapping effort in St Andrews. This has really highlighted the amazing wildlife we have on our doorstep.
Take the Kinnessburn for example. How many times do you walk by it? For me, I walk along it every day and if you were to ask me what wildlife you would find around there, I probably would have said moorhens and mallards. Without the use of camera traps, I would probably have said that to this day.
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I was put in charge of the camera trapping aspect of the VIP in St Andrews. This part aimed to use camera traps to monitor protected species like foxes and badgers. The excitement was building as the first five camera arrived and were distributed, but I was still sceptical that we would see anything. After all, it was the first week. None of us really knew where the best locations were, so I didn’t think we would catch anything good on film. But then, during a meeting when we were going across the camera trap footage, we came across this:
Short-Eared Owl flying by the Old Course. Source: Ian Gair
Camera Trap image of an otter on the Kinnessburn.
The photo above shows a European otter found walking into the Kinnessburn. They are excellent swimmers, and often found along the coast, as well as wetlands and rivers. They are a protected species in the UK, and listed as near threatened globally, so looking after these animals is really important.
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We were all ecstatic when this popped up, the exhilaration of knowing that the camera traps were already proven to be useful. It’s such a simple image, but to me, what it shows is absolutely amazing. There’s a completely hidden world within St Andrews, existing alongside us, unbeknownst to a lot of people. Knowing that there are rare species living in areas we walk past every day yet never see really encapsulates the spectacular biodiversity we see in and around St Andrews.
I think that camera traps play a really important role in conservation, not just by improving our knowledge (populations, distributions, behaviours, etc), but also improving the connection we have with the local biodiversity. I had no idea that there were otters in this area before leading the camera trapping aspect of the VIP. Without understanding the species that live within the local area, how can we ever make effective conservation strategies? Knowing which species share this area with us changes how we view the town, how we interact with its biodiversity. It makes the town feel more alive, increasing the motivation to protect our local wildlife.
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There is also a beautiful simplicity in the subtlety within camera traps. They are easy to use, intuitive, and cause no disturbance to the animals they are used to study. They capture a plethora of different animals, from familiar animals you’d see in daylight, like gulls and squirrels, to many species, like the otter, that you’d probably never see.
Camera trap footage of a fox near Melville pond.
Camera trap footage of 3 badgers in St Andrews
The two above images are great examples, in the capturing of photos of badgers and foxes. Foxes are found in most places across the UK, but face threats from traffic in urban areas, meaning that camera traps are a really useful way to keep track of their populations. Badgers are also found across the UK, living in underground burrows. Both species typically roam during the night, which makes the chances of us spotting them quite slim. Like otters, it probably wouldn’t be uncommon for you to spend your whole time in St Andrews without seeing one. That is, without the use of technology like camera traps. They really do open up the world to us in completely new ways, shedding light on magnificent creatures in stunning ways we’d never experience otherwise.
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Now, I’m not saying that everyone should go out and buy camera traps. They can be quite expensive and can be tricky to use without practice. But I hope that this blog encourages you to think about the local area. Camera traps are a gateway into the secret lives animals live, and the next time you are walking down the Kinnessburn, or anywhere else in St Andrews, I hope that this makes you think about the other wonderful creatures that also call this place home. They need our help to thrive through the preservation of the wild areas in St Andrews. Camera traps are a great way to understand the distributions of these animals, but I also feel that they can create a sense of connectivity between us and our local area, bridging the gap between the seen and the unseen.