Earlier this year on Springwatch, there was a piece about how you can make your own, very simple trail camera using a Raspberry Pi . The project is called ‘My Naturewatch’. It is a collaborative design research project between the Interaction Research Studio at Goldsmiths University and the Design Products Programme at the Royal College of Art, funded by the Engineering and Physical Sciences Research Council. Their aim is to design DIY devices that support new ways to engage with nature and technology.

From this project they designed the my Naturewatch camera. The camera body is created using a tupperware box and the camera shroud is a recycled plastic bottle. The whole kit is about £30 and requires no soldering to put together.

Earlier this year Suffolk Wildlife Trust were invited to take part in a one day workshop discovering how we could extend this project to our own community. This is where our six wild weeks came from. We have 6 cameras of which 4 are out at a time. During the summer families will adopt a camera for a week and will be able to use it and discover what’s living in their garden.

During the first workshop the families made the cameras and got to meet one another and discuss possibilities on how they could use them. At the end of the summer all the families will be invited back together to celebrate our wild discoveries.

We can’t wait to hear all about how they get on as they will keep this blog updated as they go with posts and photos, so stay tuned!