This is getting even further away from badgers, but it was an unusual experience so I feel I should make a note of it in my diary.
I was walking with a friend along the Ridgeway footpath over the Berkshire Downs at about 10.00pm on the 19th of June. Although the sun had set it was still light enough to see – one of the advantages of walking in midsummer.
On Blewbury Down I saw a bright, greenish spot of light in the long grass at the edge of the path, looking for all the world like the luminous paint you have on your watch dial, only much brighter. It was clearly visible from about 20 feet away. It was a glow worm, and my friend soon found another a few yards up the path.
I was quite astonished, partly because I didn’t know that glow worms could be found in the UK. We’d also walked along this path many times before, at all hours of the day and night, and never seen anything like it.
A little bit of research reveals that glow worms are indeed found all over the UK. The females glow for a few hours to attract a mate, usually on damp nights in June. I suppose we happened to be in the right place at the right time to see them. It seems they’ve not been recorded from this precise location before, but they are known to be found a few miles up the path.
I shall have to keep an eye out as I’m walking around in the dark from now on. Click here to go to an excellent glow worm website
Tales from the Wood - The Diary of a Badger Watching Man 
[…] is just over a year since I saw glow worms in Berkshire. I was very impressed by them and I’d like to see more. The trouble is that my village […]