In December 2025, during those days between Christmas and New Years Day, we took a trip to Castlewood Holiday Park in Antrim, Northern Ireland. The park was mostly empty, just vacant seasonally pitched caravans. While setting up, a man walking his dog stopped for a chat. He mentioned that he saw a herd of deer at about 2am the night before.
I had seen ‘evidence’ of wildlife but not being an expert in such evidence, I assumed there were a lot of well-fed rabbits around. The idea of seeing Deer was exciting to us. Imagine if we could get some video footage!
Setting up the cameras
I have a couple of security cameras for the caravan. As this is a very secure location, I wasn’t going to bother setting them up, but I thought they’d be useful for getting some wildlife footage. Since the neighbouring pitches were vacant, I placed the cameras there, directed at our caravan.
Nothing happened the first night. No movement was picked up so there were no recordings. Perhaps the deer had wandered elsewhere… maybe we’d missed our chance.
A first sighting
On day 2, at 11pm, I took my usual night-time walk around the caravan park, with a pit-stop at the bins to get rid of our rubbish. While sorting the recycling, I heard a sound that startled me – something like many miniature horses clip-clopping down a road. Turning around I saw a herd of deer, perhaps 20 or 30, galloping past the static caravans, along the tarmac lane, out through the security barriers. I was too slow to get my smartphone out of my pocket, it all happened very fast. I was impressed that none of them collided with the security barriers. They seemed to know the park very well.
They loitered around the reception building, quite close to the main entrance. I took some long-range photos, which didn’t come out very well, before calling Lana and Tania. They both had their phones on do-not-disturb and so didn’t pick up. I wasn’t too happy about that.
I therefore went back to the caravan, told them what had happened. They didn’t need any encouragement to get their coats/dry-robes and shoes on to go out for a look.
The herd were still around the reception building, on the other side of the fence from our pitch, so they got to see them before they disappeared into the forest.
Then, later that night….
We went back the caravan glad that we’d spotted the deer, at a distance at least.
I armed our Blink cameras and we went to bed.
I heard my phone vibrating at around 6am. The noise didn’t waken Lana or Tania, and I tried to ignore it. But I couldn’t resist a look.
A herd of deer were right outside our caravan! I switched to Live View on the Blink app and watched them wander around. It was quite a sight. I knew that the slightest noise would scare them off so I didn’t open a window blind or waken Lana and Tania.
In the morning, I let them see the videos below.
Watch this…
Blink cameras – how to
We have a Blink security camera set up at home and so when we got our caravan, I wanted to replicate this setup. They are easy to set up and very cost effective.
You can purchase Blink Cameras via this Amazon link: https://amzn.to/49zEfAZ
Note: As an Amazon Associate, we earn commission from qualifying purchases. We are in no way affiliated with any of the manufacturers of these items. The price you pay does not change.
Here is how we have our caravan Blink system configured:
- The Blink cameras are placed wherever you want. Each is powered by 2 x AA lithium batteries, which last over 2 years.
- The cameras transmit to a Sync Module, which you place inside your caravan. This Sync Module then connects to your Wifi network.
- Your cameras can be configured how you want them. I’ll not go into all the possibilities. I enable motion detection a night, automatically using the Schedule.
- The footage can be stored in ‘the Cloud’ for a monthly fee, after a free month. Or, you can insert a USB flash drive into the Sync Module. The footage is stored there, free of charge. This is what we do.
- If you need Wifi, check out our video below on how to set it up without costing a fortune.
As ever, we would be happy to answer any questions about this equipment. If you have an suggestions or comments to make, please use the comments box below.