The data presented here comprise a catalogue of 61736 camera trap images obtained during the period June - November 2020 (this period is described within the dataset as 'setup 1'). Following the explosion at the Chornobyl nuclear power plant in April 1986, a 5000 km2 exclusion zone surrounding the plant was created; people and farm animals were subsequently evacuated from the area. In April 2020 there were severe wildfires within the Ukrainian part of the exclusion zone (2600 km2) where approximately 870 km2 was burnt. The NERC-funded CHAR project conducted a study which involved placing motion activated digital camera traps at three sites (each covering an area of 80 km2) within the Ukrainian exclusion zone from June 2020 - August 2021 to assess large mammal activity following the fire. Thirteen cameras were randomly located at each site; all camera deployment locations had been used in a previous study 2014-2015 (https://tree.ceh.ac.uk/content/chernobyl-webcams). All the images obtained during June - November 2020 are included as part of the dataset with the exception of those images containing people, vehicles or members of the CHAR research team setting up and servicing the cameras; these images have been catalogued but they are not included in the dataset to protect privacy. Information on camera deployment periods, site characteristics and descriptions of each camera location (e.g. geographic coordinates, estimates of ambient dose rate, description of animal trails or tracks and the extent of fire damage in vicinity of where the camera is mounted) have also been included as part of the dataset. Staff from the Chornobyl Center for Nuclear Safety deployed, maintained and downloaded information from the cameras and provided field notes and observations of habitat. UKCEH staff populated the dataset using the information provided. Full details about this dataset can be found at https://doi.org/10.5285/9bd7754d-ea87-4b35-bec1-f39d5cc76db6

The data presented here comprise a catalogue of 11633 trap camera images obtained during the period November 2020 to March 2021; this period is described within the dataset as setup 2. Following the explosion at the Chernobyl nuclear power plant in April 1986 an approximately 5000 km2 exclusion zone surrounding the plant was created; people and farm animals were subsequently evacuated from the area. In April 2020 there were severe wildfires within the Ukrainian part of the exclusion zone (2600 km2) where approximately 870 km2 was burnt. The NERC funded CHAR project conducted a study which involved placing motion activated digital trap cameras at three sites (each covering an area of 80 km2) within the Ukrainian exclusion zone from June 2020 - August 2021 to assess large mammal activity following the fire. Thirteen cameras were randomly located at each site; all camera deployment locations had been used in a previous study 2014-2015 (https://www.ceh.ac.uk/our-science/projects/chernobyl-images). All the images obtained during November 2020-March 2021 (setup 2) are included as part of the dataset with the exception of those containing people, vehicles or members of the CHAR research team setting up and servicing the cameras; these images (n= 692) have been catalogued but the images are not included in the dataset to protect privacy. Information on camera deployment periods, site characteristics and descriptions of each camera location (e.g. geographic coordinates, estimates of ambient dose rate, description of animal trails or tracks and the extent of fire damage in vicinity of where the camera is mounted) have also been included as part of the dataset. Staff from the Chornobyl Center for Nuclear Safety deployed, maintained and downloaded images and associated metadata from the trap cameras in March 2021. Using the images and associated metadata, the image catalogue was populated by Chornobyl Center staff with: species identified in image, number of animals visible in image, the number of triggering events (cumulative by camera) and any relevant notes; the image catalogue (MSExcel) and trap camera images (.jpeg) were subsequently supplied to UKCEH. Site descriptions and camera information were provided by Chornobyl Center staff and supplied to UKCEH by staff as MSExcel files; the same person from the Chornobyl Center recorded all descriptive parameters. The information provided includes: site field notes, habitat descriptions, camera location (latitude and longitude, WGS84), estimates of ambient dose rate (µSv h-1), camera deployment dates and the number of days each camera was deployed. The data and images were quality checked by a member of UKCEH staff and any queries were investigated and amended where necessary. This dataset contains data related to setup 2; for data related to setup 1 see: https://doi.org/10.5285/9bd7754d-ea87-4b35-bec1-f39d5cc76db6 Full details about this dataset can be found at https://doi.org/10.5285/a657ffc3-8f62-458f-bcb7-30e116807174

Data comprise a catalogue of motion activated digital trap camera images obtained from cameras located in the Red Forest, Chornobyl (Ukraine) over a period of a year (September 2016 - September 2017); images are included. In total 45,859 images were captured; of these 19,393 contained identifiable species or organism types, 565 recorded people, 349 were of species that could not be determined and 25,552 images recorded nothing. In addition there were 687 images of members of the research team setting up and servicing the cameras. All images, with the exception of those that recorded people or camera setup/service, are included as part of the dataset. Site characteristics and descriptions for each camera location are provided (e.g. site location, estimates of ambient dose rate, activity concentration of Cs-137 and Sr-90 in soil, Cs-137 and Sr-90 deposition, extent of fire damage, vegetation and forest cover and density and water proximity). The same person recorded all descriptive parameters. Information related to each cameras deployment is also provided; this includes camera deployment periods, number of days deployed and a summary of the images (e.g. number of images with mammals, birds or insects in, number of images with nothing in, number of images with people in) and the total number of triggering events recorded. Also provided are indicative weighted absorbed dose rates estimated using the ERICA Tool v2.0 https://erica-tool.com/ for a ‘large mammal’ and ‘red fox’. Species definitively captured on the motion activated digital trap cameras were:Brown hare, Eurasian elk, Eurasian lynx, European badger, Domesticated dog (feral), Grey wolf, Przewalski's horse, Raccoon dog, Red deer, Red fox, Red squirrel, Roe deer, Wild boar, Black grouse, Common blackbird, Common buzzard, Common wood pigeon, Eurasian bittern, Eurasian hoopoe, Eurasian Jay, Eurasian sparrowhawk, Eurasian woodcock, European nightjar, European robin, Fieldfare, Great egret, Great grey shrike, Great spotted woodpecker, Great tit, Hazel grouse, Mistle thrush, Red backed shrike and Song thrush. Others identified to genus level include:Marten sp., Finch sp., Shrike sp., Thrush sp. There were also some mammal and bird species which were unidentifiable. Site descriptions, camera information, a summary of the contents of the image catalogue, summaries of mammals and birds by setup, site and camera and all the trap camera images have been provided as part of this dataset. Full details about this dataset can be found at https://doi.org/10.5285/bf82cec2-5f8a-407c-bf74-f8689ca35e83