I think that makes two of us struggling to see badgers at the moment. I hope that you’re having more luck than I am. This is my first real season of badger watching in winter, so I’m still getting to grips with the badgers’ routine. Not to mention the fact that it’s a lot colder than in summer.

Good luck with your efforts!

All the best

BWM

Mr M

Thank you very much for sharing your experience – sounds like it won’t be the last time you come face to face with a badger!

Would you mind if I posted your comment as a ‘guest post’? I think it would be good to share it more widely.

Many thanks and all the best

BWM

I’ve always been fascinated by British nocturnal wildlife – the creatures most people don’t encounter – and especially our native badger. I’ve seen many sad sights of them at the sides of roads, but never a live one in the wild, until last Saturday night! Unfortunately for me, it was at the end of a week’s break in Lincolnshire and I won’t be going back to the same place for at least a couple of years, and I have no idea if there are any badger setts to watch anywhere near where I live in north Kent.

I’d spent a few days prior to the sighting visiting the woods where I was pretty sure were badger setts – research into field techniques and then applying them to my surroundings confirmed it with evidence of dung pits, pathways, definite entrance holes and bedding etc all being present. Strangely, the wood in which they reside is quite well used by humans, joggers, cyclists and dog-walkers all regular visitors but this doesn’t seem to deter the beasts! The most obvious sett entrance is literally next to the main path in the wood too, I was sure it must be disused but this was the entrance hole I witnessed the badger, snuffling around for morsels.

Sadly though, my experience was pretty short – just a few minutes. I should have gone alone but my mother-in-law, who loves animals wanted to come with me. The badger at first seemed undeterred and tolerated our presence well, until MIL began to try and get closer, not listening to my pleas to remain where we were That was that, I broke a twig underfoot and Mr. Brock scuttled into his sett, whence we made our way out of the woods as quietly as possible.

Still, this had to be the most magical night of my life – I never thought I’d be so lucky as to just see them like that. Next time, I’m going alone and using all my newly found knowledge to make it a better experience for man and badger!

I still find it impossible but I think you need to put in much more time to this than I can spare. The only person I know who can do this reliably is Chris Ferris – but she is intimately aquainted with her badgers.

Chris is an amazing lady, very brave – spends all night out with her badgers- and works with the RSPCA & police to protect them from badger baiters.

Mex, you might enjoy reading Chris Ferris’s books – The Darkness is Light Enough, Out of Darkness and The Badgers of Ashcroft Wood.

I wouldn’t worry about doing anything wrong. My one big rule is ‘don’t disturb the badgers’. As long as you follow that rule then everything else seems to follow.

As for identifying individual badgers, I still have no success at this. I’ll let you into a secret. One of the reasons for starting this blog was to give me somewhere to put pictures and videos. I thought that if I could study the pictures enough then I’d get to know the badgers, but it hasn’t happened yet. It’s frustrating because to really understand how the group behaves I really need to recognise the individuals.

If it’s any consolation, Hans Kruuk, probably the most experienced badger scientist in the world, confessed that he found it difficult to recognise badgers, and he could sometimes only tell the sex of a badger when it had been trapped and anaesthetised. So there’s hope for us all!

Thanks,
Mex