Welcome to your

Camera kit

Instructions for making

a camera nest box
and using your camera kit

(*Cameras illustrated throughout may differ)

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MAKING A CAMERA NEST BOX

A camera nest box for

birds is really no
different to any other
nest box, except that it
would be helpful if it is a
little deeper than normal
to accommodate a
camera, and extra
attention is paid to
keeping the rain out.
Cameras don’t like
damp.

There are lots of birdbox

plans on the Internet and
all of the major bird and wildlife organisations have plans or
links to plans. Here are just a few:

http://www.beautifulbritain.co.uk/htm/wildlife_gardening/bird_b
ox.htm
http://www.garden-birds.co.uk/information/stdboxplan.htm
http://www.scmg-rspb.org.uk/birdbox.htm
http://www.bto.org/notices/nestbox.pdf
and of course there are many others – Google “nest box
plans”

A PENT ROOF NEST BOX

For most common garden birds, this medium sized pent roof
nest box will be ample. You will need a 150mm x 25mm (6” x
1”) piece of timber or plywood at least 1370mm (54“) long,
some 50mm nails or 40mm screws (use galvanised nails or
brass or stainless steel screws). If you use plywood, make
sure it is exterior grade plywood – it is usually marked
“exterior” or “WBP” (water and boil proof) – exterior plywood is
made with special adhesives that are not affected by
rainwater, but interior plywood may fall apart if it gets wet.

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Cut the timber as shown.

Drill out the entrance hole before you assemble the nest box,
using a flat drill bit, a hole saw, or best of all a forstner bit (that
cuts the fibres before scooping out the hole, leaving a really
neat hole). Make the hole at least 125mm (5”) above the floor
to prevent predators scooping out the eggs or babies. The
recommended size of hole is as follows:

25mm Blue Tits, Coal Tits, Marsh Tits, etc

28mm Great Tits
30mm Sparrows, Flycatchers

Assemble the box as shown

below on the right – the floor
fits up inside the walls and
needs a few 6mm (1/4”)
holes in it for drainage. It is
not necessary to use glue as
long as the corners are neat
and draught free.
Hold the roof in place before
you fit the drip strip just
above the roof. Use a scrap
of wood to make a block
under the roof to stop it
sliding off (see below left).

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If you can cut angles, cut the back roof edge
at an angle of 15 degrees or plane it down to
get a better fit. To mark the angle, use the
sloping side of the box (see right).

It is
important
to make the nest box as dry
as possible inside. An
easier alternative way to
keep it dry is to substitute a
strip of rubber (inner tube?)
or leather for the wooden
drip strip above the roof,
and nail the rubber or
leather over the joint to
make a waterproof hinge (below).

For 18mm plywood, you will have to adjust

the floor dimensions – the picture below right
shows the difference in floor size when using
25mm (1”) and 18mm (approx ¾”) timber.

Paint the outside of the nest box with a non-

toxic timber treatment that says it is harmless
to animals.
Alternatively, you can
use PVA masonry paint
that is available in a
number of nice pastel
shades. Make sure
that any paint is
absolutely dry before
you hang up the box.
Don’t paint the inside of the box.

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 To lock the box closed, the easiest way is to use
two nails, one in the edge of the roof and the other
in the wall, then wind some scrap copper wire
around them to lock the nest box shut.

You can fix the box up with nails or screws, or use

wire to hang it on a tree trunk or post. If you are
going to nail it to a tree, try to use aluminium nails
if you can find them – if they are left in the tree, they won’t be
dangerous if someone with a chainsaw cuts the tree up for
firewood one day.
A mounting batten will help a lot to keep the box dry. Make it
out of 75 x 25mm (3” x 1”) timber about 460mm (18”) long if
vertical, 250mm (10”) long if horizontal. It can be fixed to the
back of the nest box vertically (for walls, etc) or horizontally
(more usual for wiring to a tree).

Mounting a camera in your pent roof box.

The camera has a mounting bolt on the bracket. Drill a hole
in the middle of one of the side
walls about 200mm (8”) above
the floor inside. Attach the
camera as shown below – you
will need to put in some hooks or
nails to tie the cables down
neatly. Keep all the connectors
inside the box, up under the roof,
where they will stay dry. You will
also need to cut a slot in the wall
just under the roof to allow the
wire from the camera to pass out
of the box back to your TV or
video recorder. In addition, you
might find it easier to fix cup hooks inside for cables and make
a small tray out of two pieces of wood to support the camera
connectors inside the nest box you can see where on the
drawing near the end of these instructions showing how to
connect the camera to your TV or video recorder.
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 Erect your nest box at least 2m off the
ground. If it is not under the shade of a
tree all day, site it facing somewhere
between north and southeast so that the
sun can’t beat on it during the day.

Don’t disturb the birds once they are

nesting. Clean out the box in October. If
you find any old eggs, put them in the
dustbin immediately – it is illegal to
possess any wild bird’s egg in the UK. If you want to dust the
box with something to kill parasites, use only pyrethrum
power, specifically safe for birds
(available from Vets and pet suppliers).

AN APEX ROOF NEST BOX

An apex roof nest box is a bit more

complicated, and you may think it looks
nicer, but the birds won’t mind a bit either
way. Here’s the way to cut it out of a 150

x 25mm (6” x 1”) piece of timber, at least 1420mm (56”) long.

The apex roof nest box assembly is straightforward enough,
like the pent roof box. One half of the roof is screwed to the
walls and the other half is hinged to it using a strip of rubber
or leather over the ridge (below left).

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A further refinement is the addition
of four thin wooden strips about
35mm (1½”) wide round the edge of
the roof to overhang the walls and
throw the rain off (below centre).
This type of box rally needs a
mounting batten behind it, and if the
roof has strips nailed on both sides,
the batten needs to be fixed with
blocks to hold it away from the box, allowing the roof to open
and close (right).

All nest boxes can be improved by putting roofing felt on the

roof to prolong the life of the box. The roofing felt should be
fixed on with short clout nails (roofing felt nails), but you
should work carefully to avoid splitting the
wood when you drive in rows of nails.

Mounting a camera in the apex box.

You can mount the camera in the same way
as the pent roof box or attach it to the inside of
the front wall by drilling a 6mm (1/4”) hole a
little way above the entrance hole.

A BAT BOX

There are dozens of bat box plans on the Internet, including

these:
http://www.scmg-rspb.org.uk/batbox.htm
http://www.jwaller.co.uk/batgroup/pete_maule_designs.asp
http://www.countrysideinfo.co.uk/article_bats/index.htm
http://www.bats.org.uk/publications_download.php/235/Howto
makeabatbox.pdf
and again, Google “Bat box plans”

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 A Bat box can be made in
exactly the same way as
the pent roof nest box,
except that the back piece
is 100mm (4”) longer to
provide a landing stage for
the bats below the box.
You will need a piece of
timber or plywood 150mm
(6”) wide, at least 18mm
thick (3/4”) if you can
manage it, and at least 1520mm (58”) long.

The back plate should provide a gripping surface for the bats
to climb up – 3mm (1/8”) grooves sawn across the backing
board every 15mm (5/8”) will be fine, but it’s easier simply to
make it out of rough, unplaned wood that bats can grip on.
Leave a gap of about 15mm (5/8”) between the floor and the
backing board so that the bats can get into the box by
climbing up the backing board.

Drill a hole in the front of the bat box as usual, but plug it with
a cork or cover it with a cover plate of some kind – a small
square of plastic or wood, screwed on. If Blue Tits decide to
nest in your bat box, they will build a nest inside which will
eventually be trampled down and block the slot underneath,
trapping any babies inside. If you see Blue Tits going in and
out of your bat box, climb up and remove the plug or
coverplate over the entrance hole in the front and leave it
open until the breeding season is over so the birds can use it.
Mount your bat box flush against a wall or tree without using a
mounting batten.

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A HEDGEHOG BOX

The hedgehog is
one of the UK’s most
loved wild animals.
You can find plans
for a hedgehog box
at these sites:
http://www.thehedge
hog.co.uk/houses.ht
m
http://www.hedgehg.
dircon.co.uk/hedgeh
ogs/booklet.html
http://www.britishhed
gehogs.org.uk/FAQS
/hedgehog_homes.h
tm
and lots of others –
Google “Hedgehog
Box plans”

You will need

enough timber to
make a box 250mm
x 400mm (10” x 15”
) at least 230mm (9”)
deep with a lid. A
!200 x 1200 (4’ x 4’)
sheet of ply is plenty. Once again, use untreated timber or
exterior plywood at least 18mm (3/4”) thick. It looks nice
made out of new timber, but you can use any timber – it will
be covered with plastic in the winter anyway. It can be nailed
together using galvanised nails but stainless or brass screws
at least 40mm long would be better.
In addition to the box, you will need to make a tunnel at least
125mm (5”) square inside, at least 450mm (18”) long.
Arrange a hole in the box so that the tunnel can slide through
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it, and put lugs on one end of the tunnel so that it is “locked”
into the box.
A few sheets of newspaper or a thin layer of shredded bark
will make a good floor covering inside. You can add a
generous handful of dry grass or straw as bedding before
closing the box. Your hedgehog will no doubt rearrange it all
to its own liking and carry its own bedding into the box.
Drape some plastic sheeting over the box and cover it with
sticks, leaves, a turf or other materials. Be sure to site the
box where it the ground is dry and not prone to flooding or
puddles.
Tucked under shrubbery or tight in against a hedge, this type
of box will be perfect for your hedgehog during summer, but
when winter comes, it will need a hog heap if your hedgehog
is to survive safely.
To make a hog heap (see drawings on previous page), first
cover the whole box with a generous heap of dry grass, straw,
dry leaves or other dry garden trimmings. Then cover this
heap with a plastic sheet and put some rocks around the
edges of the sheet to hold it in place.
Then cover the plastic sheet with a BIG heap of leaves,
trimmings, branches, and anything else you can get hold of to
make a large heap like a bonfire.
Dry, snug and warm inside this heap, your hedgehog will be
safe throughout the coldest time of year that arrives about six
weeks after Christmas in the UK.

Mounting a camera in your hog house.

Drill a 6mm (¼”) hole just under the roof above the tunnel and
mount the camera using its mounting bolt. Your hedgehog is
likely to bed down at the far end, so putting the camera here
gives the best chance of success. You will need to make a
small slot in the top of the wall close to the camera so that the
wire can get out of the box, back to your TV or video recorder.

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Testing the camera and focus.
Before putting any box out in the garden, first mount the
camera and plug everything into your TV to make sure that it
is working.

Don’t forget to
take off the lens
cap if it has one.
Lay the long
cable out on the
floor – don’t test
it with the long
cable coiled up
because a coil of
wire will
sometimes give
you a bad
picture. If you
get a loud “wow”
on the sound, it’s
probably
feedback - your
camera is a bit
too close to the
TV, so move it
further away.
Then put the
camera in the
box and turn it to
point where you
want it to – most
birds nest towards the back of a nest box, bats will usually
crawl up as high as possible in a bat box, and hedgehogs
usually nest at the far end away from the tunnel entrance. To
focus the camera, turn the lens until you get a sharp picture –
you can use a bit of writing torn from a newspaper or
magazine as a test card. Don’t forget to support your “test
card” about 30mm (1¼”) above the floor of a bird nest box to

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allow for the thickness of a nest when it is built – you want to
focus the camera where the eggs and babies will be.

Aiming and focussing the

camera
The camera rotates on its
mounting bolt and swivels in its
cradle, so you can aim it just
about anywhere.
If the camera gets sloppy in its
cradle, tighten the little screw on
each side of the cradle to make
it stay put.
To focus the camera, turn the
lens sticking out of the front

Connecting your camera to a TV or video recorder

The picture on the previous page shows a typical layout,

where the camera is connected to a TV. We supply our nest
box kit boxes with a convenient cable connector tray inside,
but you can make your own – a little shelf to rest the
connectors on, safe and dry inside the nest box. If you put
the connectors outside, you should wrap them with self-
amalgamating tape, a special rubber tape that bonds to form
a weatherproof covering. It also helps to put some hooks
around the inside of box to hold the cables safely in place.

A few words about getting colour pictures

The black and white cameras we supply with our DIY camera
kits give good, crisp black and white pictures in daylight or
pitch darkness because they have infra-red emitters on them
that allow the camera to see in total darkness.
The colour cameras that we supply with our DIY camera kits
also have infra-red emitters on them. When there is enough
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natural daylight, the camera will produce colour pictures, but
they will be paler than usual because the infra-red emitters
are always on, there is quite a lot of infra-red bouncing around
inside the nest box, and infra-red tends to wash out the
colour. In dark conditions, the colour camera switches over to
black and white infra-red pictures.
It follows that nest boxes hung up in shady places, especially
those with small entrance holes, will be quite dark inside,
even when it’s bright outside, so the camera will probably
switch to black and white or nearly black and white.
Where there is enough light getting into the box, the pictures
will be in colour. It is not advisable, however, to hang any
nest box in strong, direct sunlight – bright shade is the best.
If you have problems getting colour pictures, you need more
white light or daylight inside the nest box. The most
straightforward way of doing this is to drill a 50mm (2”) hole in
each side of the box to act as windows and let more light in.
Of course, you will have to cover such big holes with clear, or
better still translucent, plastic of some kind – the sides cut
from milk cartons work well for a season but they may need
covering with some fine steel mesh for safety if you have
predator problems. Better still use a couple of small squares
of milky acrylic (Perspex, Plexiglass) sheet. You could also
consider agricultural or greenhouse fluted sheeting (Correx)
or twin wall polycarbonate (the stuff conservatories are roofed
with) that is strong and lasts many years. It is not a huge
problem, and since you are probably making your own nest
boxes, you should find the provision of “windows” is part of
the fun.
A further alternative is to put LED lights inside the nest box,
by breaking into the DC power to the camera and tapping off
to a couple of white LEDs. We sell a simple plug-in kit for this
purpose. Whenever you turn on the camera, the lights come
on and give you great colour pictures. However, some people
don’t like the idea because it isn’t natural, and there are lots of
arguments about whether lights inside nest boxes deter some
birds from nesting there, and that lights turned on at night
might attract predators to the box.

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We hope you will have a lot of fun and success with your new
camera.

CONNECTING YOUR HANDYKAM CCTV CAMERA -

GENERALLY

The camera has three connectors hanging out of it. The

connectors are:

Yellow - video (picture) signal – RCA phono type connector

White – audio (sound) signal – RCA phono type connector
Red – 6v to 12v DC power to the camera – DC inline socket

The yellow and white connectors plug into a TV or video

recorder (or an extension cable connected to one). The red
connector has to be connected to a DC power source (a
battery or a power supply) of between 6v and 12v DC.
The general arrangement, using a three-plug CCTV extension
cable, is as follows:

Connecting to a TV, video recorder or similar.

The camera puts out a signal called an AV signal, suitable for
TV sets and video recorders, or any other type of equipment

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with an AV IN socket(s).

If the equipment has phono sockets, the plugs on the camera

or its extension cable can be plugged straight into the
sockets. The general arrangement, using a two-plug phono
extension cable is as follows:

If the equipment has a SCART connector (a rectangular

connector full of pins), you will need a PHONO/SCART IN
adaptor – plug the phono plugs into the SCART adaptor and
then plug the SCART adaptor into the SCART socket on the
equipment.

Computer connection

This type of AV camera cannot be connected directly to a

computer because the computer uses a different kind of
signal. You will need a DVR card or AV/USB plugin converter
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 in the computer, or some other device that converts the
camera’s AV signal into a USB signal for the computer.

Adjusting the camera

The camera rotates on its
mounting bolt and swivels
in its cradle, so you can
point it just about
anywhere. If the camera
becomes sloppy in its
cradle, gently tighten the
little screws on either side
of the cradle.
To focus the camera, rotate
the lens sticking out of the front.

© HANDYKAM.COM (01736) 756277

You can contact us at support@handykam.com.

Tel: +44 01209 313579

SAFE AND COMPLIANT TO LATEST FSC/

STANDARDS RoHS PEFC
2009 HANDYKAM

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