A few weeks ago I tried to take a photo of George, our pygmy dormouse, eating some fruit. Over various days I put different pieces of fruit on the table in his cage, starting with strawberries. I put my camera on a tripod, focussed on the fruit and waited for him to appear. As soon as he approached the fruit I would reach for the camera to take a photo, but he was so fast and either disappeared as soon as my hand moved or grabbed the fruit and ran off with it.

I decided to buy a remote control for the camera so I could get the camera set up and then sit back so I could watch the cage and take a photo without moving and scaring him. I found out that my camera (a Nikon D40) would work with an infra-red remote control so I ordered one and waited for it to arrive.

After the remote control arrived I tried again but with a slice of melon. I thought that since the slice was as big as he was, it would slow him down a bit and I would have a better chance of getting a photo. He was still too fast and all I got was a photo of a retreating furry bum.

A few days later I tried again but this time attached the melon to a metal 'skewer' which is designed to attach wooden blocks and nibbling treats. It took several attempts before I managed to get a reasonable photo of him eating.