Best wildlife cameras for the garden

Whether you're a budding David Attenborough, or just excited to know what or who is frequenting your garden, wildlife cameras for the garden will be a source of much intrigue and enjoyment.

Wildlife cameras come in all sorts of shapes and sizes, from full blown camouflage, night vision high spec versions, to those where you attach it to a wall, or install it into a bird box and go.

Wondering how to record wildlife in the garden? Using one of the best wildlife cameras for the garden that we've picked below, you can set up a nest box and have the camera record all the action from right inside. Another option is to attach the camera to a spot on a tree, or on a structure in the garden and wait to see what happens.

If you're looking for underwater garden animals such as frogs and other amphibians, there are lots of options for underwater garden wildlife cameras too. Make sure you have a camera that can withstand long periods underwater, and always test the focus and shot before you leave it.

Another tip to ensure the best results for your wildlife camera for the garden is to identify a busy animal highway. If you have an inkling that there's a specific area in the garden that's used a lot by a four or two legged friend, then make sure to focus the camera right there. Perhaps you've spotted a little burrow, or you have a feeling your compost heap is home to a mouse, chances are your instincts will be right and you'll be rewarded by lots of photographs of lots of different types of animals.

For more on how to attract wildlife to the garden why not read our piece on how to create a wildlife haven in the garden plus the best trees and shrubs for birds.

What is the best wildlife camera for the garden?

Wildlife Camera 20MP 1080P Hunting Trail Cameras with Night Vision

This stealth camera option means that wildlife in your garden is very unlikely to spot this camera and get spooked. This camera has a time lapse feature which means it takes pictures and/or videos at specified intervals automatically which is helpful for when you're trying to observe cold blooded animals such as snakes, or watching the growing of plants or flowers. The time lapse can be set to anywhere between 1 second and 24 hours. It also has a motion sensor of up to 25 metres and the trail camera also has high res imagery of up to 20 mp. One thing to mention is that you can't leave some files on the SD card and delete others, you need to delete all of them at the same time.

UK Outdoor Hunting Trail Camera Night Vision

A camouflage wildlife camera for the garden that's a great place to start. It is well protected against rain, insects and dust getting into the lens and can withstand temperatures from -10 to over 70 celsius. The high res filming is 1080 px which should ensure a clear image with crisp photos. This garden wildlife camera lens is 20 degrees wide and comes with a card reader, a strap and a USB cable too. The night vision option is one of its key features and will mean you can spot the likes of foxes, hedgehogs and more in the garden.

WiFi Wildlife Camera (3rd Gen)

Another 1080 HD wildlife camera for your garden, which is helpfully wireless and uses in-built WiFi. Using the Green Feathers app you can watch the footage on your phone or tablet, with the camera using push notifications when the detection function is activated. It will also detect any moving objects up to 5 metres away. With night vision, it has a range of 20 metres, and the fetching green casing means the camera is weatherproof. Storage in the camera comes in the form of a microSD card which is compatible with cards up to 128GB. This garden wildlife camera is particularly good as a bird box camera.

GardePro e5 Wildlife Ultra Fast

There are three capture modes that come with this garden wildlife camera, photo, video and both photo and video. It can also offer up a time stamp, time lapse, loop recording and is password protected. Phew! It's another strong option for stealth garden wildlife viewing, and can be attached to a tree or garden structure in order to spot the likes of badgers, birds, deer and hedgehogs. The detection distance is 80ft and it has a 0.1s trigger speed. It also has 90ft night vision flash range. Images are high res and it records 2304x1296 HD video. It's compatible with a 256 GB standard SD card, which you will need to get yourself.

Green Feathers Wired Camera Bird box

A teeny tiny garden wildlife camera which is perfect for atop a nesting box. It measures just 40mm across and should fit into even the smallest of garden bird boxes! What's also nice about this camera is that there is an option to watch the footage live on your TV, with the help of included cables, the length of which you can choose yourself. It has invisible infrared LEDs which provide night vision and has an adjustable focus lens to make sure your image is in focus. It's a sturdy option for your newfound garden wildlife viewing needs.

Browning Recon Force Elite HP4

New last year, this wildlife camera has some great high res specifications, including 22MP images and 60fpd 1920x1080 HD video. The trigger speed - something vital in being quick enough to capture fast scurrying beasties - is 0.2 seconds for photos and 0.3 seconds for videos. The new version has long-range power LEDs which will ensure great night time vision on this garden wildlife camera. You can also set the filming to start and stop so you can choose when you want the camera to be active, rather than leaving it to record from the minute you leave. Night time videos are limited to 20 seconds per clip, as a result of the better quality night vision, but a nice bonus is that if there's still activity out there after that 20 seconds, the camera can recover after 1 second and record another 20 second clip.

24MP 1296P WiFi Trail and Game Camera Motion Activated Hunting Camera Infrared Waterproof Outdoor Wildlife Scouting Camera

• Buy now from TomTop ($50)

The full colour images on this garden wildlife camera are up to 24mp, and 1296 p video clips, complete with sound. This camera also has built in WiFi and app control function, which means you can have complete control at what the camera is focusing on from your phone. It's a great option for day or night wildlife monitoring in the garden, but could also be used as a general security camera too. This camera is one where you mount it to a tree, or garden structure and hope that the garden fauna don't notice. It also operates at a temperature of up to - 30 degrees celsius.

• Buy now from TomTop ($50)

Apex Premium Multi Bird Box Camera Systems Wired

Coming complete with a wooden birdbox, this is another wired wildlife camera for the garden. There are two box sizes to choose from and you can choose from cedar wood, or golden brown (pine) for the material. This also connects directly to your TV and is in casing about the size of a box of matches. It's weatherproof and has an onboard sensor that can capture colour images with a 700 TV line resolution. This camera also comes with six infrared LEDs making night vision through this wildlife camera a strong options. The camera needs to be powered by an AC adaptor and the length of the cable can be either 20m, 30m or 50m. The bird box is aimed primarily at coal tits, blue tits, great tits, robins, sparrows and more.

Buy from UK Wildlife Cameras now

RSPB Garden wildlife camera

• Buy now from RSPB

The RSPB is probably one of the most reliable places to buy your garden bird wildlife camera (they know what they're doing when it comes to birds!), and this one is a Sony-chipped 700 TV line camera which offers day and night vision. Again, it's a wired camera, so you can connect it to your TV and it can be pointed towards a bird table, bird feeder, or the entrance to burrows, hedgehog nests and more. There is an option to be able to connect the camera to your PC by buying the PC adaptor as an extra. This garden wildlife camera has a night vision range of 10 t0 15 metres. You will need to also buy a USB adaptor for Mac/PC if you want to record footage from the camera. That package also comes with video editing software.

• Buy now from RSPB

Smart wildlife camera HuntPassion

• Buy now from HuntPassion

This wildlife camera takes pictures in 0.5 seconds and you can set the number of photos and videos you want it to take every time it detects motion. It also automatically detects when it is night time and changes the right mode too. The photo resolution is 16MP and the videos are 1080p with 25 frames a second. It also detects movements of up to 65ft. One of the key elements to this garden wildlife camera is that the battery lasts 12 months and the waterproof casing has been designed to take a battering by the weather. It runs with a memory card so the footage is easily uploaded and stored on your computer. This camera also has a two year warranty.

• Buy now from HuntPassion