Winchester City Mill Otterwatch Wiki
the definitive resource for the City Mill Otterwatch Project
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| More recently, the project has benefited from a partnership between the National Trust, who own and run the city mill; the Environment Agency, who are responsible for the River Itchen, that flows through the mill; and the Hampshire and Isle of Wight Wildlife Trust, who protect the nature and wildlife around Winchester. Supplemented by some quite unique technology provided by [[https://www.ibm.com/uk-en/|IBM]] and the [[http://www.exeter.ac.uk/|University of Exeter]], the Otterwatch project has become capable of monitoring wildlife as it passes through the mill, and automatically identifying if the animals are otters. Once trained, this software will process footage of wildlife and detect if the subject of the film is an otter or something else (for example spider's web, duck, fog!). When an otters is detected, it will [[https://twitter.com/WCMOtters|tweet]] a notification, alerting the mill's hundreds of followers of the visit. | More recently, the project has benefited from a partnership between the National Trust, who own and run the city mill; the Environment Agency, who are responsible for the River Itchen, that flows through the mill; and the Hampshire and Isle of Wight Wildlife Trust, who protect the nature and wildlife around Winchester. Supplemented by some quite unique technology provided by [[https://www.ibm.com/uk-en/|IBM]] and the [[http://www.exeter.ac.uk/|University of Exeter]], the Otterwatch project has become capable of monitoring wildlife as it passes through the mill, and automatically identifying if the animals are otters. Once trained, this software will process footage of wildlife and detect if the subject of the film is an otter or something else (for example spider's web, duck, fog!). When an otters is detected, it will [[https://twitter.com/WCMOtters|tweet]] a notification, alerting the mill's hundreds of followers of the visit. | ||
| - | The cameras are now positioned within the mill building overlooking the channel on the eastern side of the mill. This is the slower moving path of the river, that takes a smaller quantity of water than the mill race itself (which is where the water wheel is located). There is also a camera positioned at the end of the mill garden , watching a set of steps that have been installed to help the otters traverse the dam that restricts the flow of water into the slip channel. Planks in this dam can be used to regulate the flow between the two channels that pass either side of the island. | + | The cameras are now positioned within the mill building overlooking the channel on the eastern side of the mill. This is the slower moving path of the river, that takes a smaller quantity of water than the mill race itself (which is where the water wheel is located). |
| The otters are shy, primarily nocturnal, creatures that are unlikely to be spotted by passers-by. Having said this, they //have// been spotted on occasions, so definitely worth looking down at the Itchen at dawn and dusk! | The otters are shy, primarily nocturnal, creatures that are unlikely to be spotted by passers-by. Having said this, they //have// been spotted on occasions, so definitely worth looking down at the Itchen at dawn and dusk! | ||
| ===== History of the Filming of Otters at Winchester City Mill ===== | ===== History of the Filming of Otters at Winchester City Mill ===== | ||
| - | Prior to 2006, the cameras and technology that watched the slip channel, which is where the majority of otters are filmed, had become unmaintained and was not regularly monitored. The mill itself was also going through a major change, and demonstration milling was started in 2005, becoming more regular in 2006. In October 2006, one of the millers began to take an interest in the otter cameras, and picked up the task of checking the footage being collected, and identifying where this video included otters. Together with another volunteer, otter sightings began to be recorded in a more organised way, and this continued until January 2007. | + | Prior to 2006, the cameras and technology that watched the east channel, which is where the majority of otters are filmed, had become unmaintained and was not regularly monitored. The mill itself was also going through a major change, and demonstration milling was started in 2004, becoming more regular in 2006. In October 2006, one of the millers began to take an interest in the otter cameras, and picked up the task of checking the footage being collected, and identifying where this video included otters. Together with another volunteer, otter sightings began to be recorded in a more organised way, and this continued until January 2007. |
| The footage itself was now being regularly reviewed in order to pick out the sightings of otters from all of the other spurious video of spiders' webs, ducks, flying insects and even fog that the CCTV inevitably captured. This reviewing of the footage has continued to this day, with the cameras and technology being updated and improved. The last major camera upgrade was in 2014 after the system was badly damaged by floods. The infrastructure of the system has again been upgraded in 2018/9, taking advantage of the restoration of the mill building. | The footage itself was now being regularly reviewed in order to pick out the sightings of otters from all of the other spurious video of spiders' webs, ducks, flying insects and even fog that the CCTV inevitably captured. This reviewing of the footage has continued to this day, with the cameras and technology being updated and improved. The last major camera upgrade was in 2014 after the system was badly damaged by floods. The infrastructure of the system has again been upgraded in 2018/9, taking advantage of the restoration of the mill building. | ||
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