Yesterday my wild-life night-time vision camera arrived (a ‘PH700A trail’ manufactured by Shenzhen Zecre Technology company Ltd. of Guangdong, China) courtesy of the ones who send you things in a carton with a curved arrow printed on it. My budding Attenboroughian instincts prompted me to follow the example of a compatriot who has a place on the opposite side of our valley and purchased a similar type of camera. His collection of night-time wildlife included daini (deer), badger, fox, a porcupine and those damned cinghiali (wild boars) who we suspected were guilty of upturfing the ground surrounding our (now) sturdily fenced off orto (vegetable patch).

I studied the instruction manual for the camera (which remarkably cost me rather less than Euros 50), selected what I trusted were the correct settings and strapped it to one of the plum trees overlooking our orto.

Here’s what the camera snapped while I was away from it. These shots were unloaded this morning….

So…what we had always suspected! Trench warfare was being conducted by the most ‘boring’ of animals…the cinghiale or wild boar. What surprised me, however, was that not only did these tusked and often quite aggressive beasts  wander about devastating our personal grassland during the night-time but they also had the cheek to venture quite regardless during the early daylight hours while we were still having our breakfast.

I was suitably impressed by my new toy and especially by the data it provided me on time and temperatures (which continues to soar up to 39C in our part of the world).

I ‘m now looking forwards to capturing photos of further forest denizens surrounding our place. Probably many of them will be somewhat unsavoury ones like those stoats in the wood described in that favourite book ‘The wind in the willows’!

Anyway, if something really unusual turns up during my wild-life camera’s surveillance I’ll post it here. Incidentally, the only night-time bipeds we’ll ever want to see are those sporting a pair of wings. I’d love to get pictures of an owl, for example!