Country brought to life from a computer near you
The dawn chorus, a sleepy farmyard scene, cows wending their way homewards, frolicking lambs – any of the rural scenes which can help you tune out from the stresses of life – are all available online.
If your idea of relaxation is nature watching in a farm setting, there is a selection of such “experiences” now available on your computer.
Video webcams connected to computers bring you into the countryside to see and hear what’s going on.
People from all over the world tune in online with their computers to watch everything from hens to lambs frolicking.
Dawn chorus webcams are a big hit. It seems the most unexpected rural scenes are attracting attention.
In 2007, 1.7 million fans tuned in to watch a block of cheddar cheese ripening.
LambWatch, a live 24-hour audio and video feed shows the everyday running of a Yorkshire sheep farm since February, 2008. Website developer Daniel Procter, who lives on the hill farm, masterminded the scheme.
He says he has had people logging on from as far afield as California and Australia.
Surprise LambWatch co-stars have included blue-tits battling against the wind, and an unsuspecting chicken, bumbling across the grass. Later in the year, viewers will be able to watch a traditional hay meadow being cut, and the archives show the sheep being shorn, and the camera being attacked by an angry sheep and an aggressive squirrel. Procter describes it as ‘real farming life’ – things do go wrong, and not every lamb survives.
It may be bad news for rural tourism – unless you go electronic, and attract enough viewers to earn advertising revenue.
