shopFrequently Asked Questions
- Where are the sheep and lambs?
- Why does it look like it is snowing at night in the summer?
- Where have the birdfeeders gone?
- Why is there a bright vertical beam on the video?
- Is that water falling into the bird's water bowl?
- Can I view the webcam in full-screen?
Where are the sheep and lambs?
The webcam points to one of several fields at the farm and they animals move between the fields from time to time to allow the fields to recover. If there are no sheep and lambs on webcam then they are likely to be in another field. There are only lambs at the farm between the months of March and August but there are sheep at the farm throughout the year. Every now and then, the sheep and lambs may be indoors in the barn for various reasons.
Why does it look like it is snowing at night in the summer?
At night the webcam emits infra-red light so that you can also see objects close by during the night. The infra-red light only allows images to be seen in black and white, meaning that the grass looks like it has a covering of snow and raindrops / fog looks like snow falling. Rest assured we haven't had massive climate change at LambWatch and this snow-like effect is down to infra-red light during the summer! Of course during the winter, it could well be snow!
Where have the birdfeeders gone?
We like to keep a birdfeeder in front of the webcam as often as possible but sometimes, for various reasons, we will remove them. For example, it could be very windy and there is a risk of it crashing into the webcam. Alternatively, the lambs may have nudged it off its hook. Thirdly, we could just have run out of birdseed! Those birds will eat us out of house and home eventually - greedy so-and-sos!
Why is there a bright vertical beam on the video?
When the sun shines directly into the webcam, it causes a bit of video distortion causing this sunbeam to appear. It only ever occurs in the evening when the sun is setting and then only really in summer months when the sun sets much further towards the west.
Is that water falling into the bird's water bowl?
In a word, no. Similarly to the question above, this is an optical illusion caused by the light hitting the water at a specific angle and reflecting into the camera. Because the camera's optics aren't that great, it causes this affect on the picture.
Can I view the webcam in full-screen?
Yes! If you just want to watch the webcam in full screen all you have to do is double click the webcam stream area. To exit full-screen, simply double click it again! If this doesn't work, try right clicking and select "exit".
If you have a question that is not answered here, or if you know of another FAQ that you would think would be useful here, please contact us or you can ask the question in the forum where a member of the friendly LambWatch community will be more than willing to help you!