Tales from the Wood – The Diary of a Badger Watching Man

Roe Deer track

Scale in cm

4 Responses

1. on January 9, 2010 at 1:10 pm rick whitford

   Hi
   We live on 12 acres of mixed fields, woods & river,surrounded by 100 acres of farm land & at this time of year with thick snow on the ground (in Cornwall!) we have made the most of getting out & about to see how active our wild life is.
   Rabbit tracks by the hundred!
   What look like deer tracks- sensibly walking in the ruts caused by the tractor going across the fields & rarely crossing haphazardly. Would this make sense ?
   Foxes- lots of tracks- our hens & ducks are safe so far!
   A dead young badger found outside a sett last year & no evidence of use in the snow round the setts when we walked there yesterday. Also last year 2 dead adult badgers dead by the side of the road about the same time- probably Feb ’09
   We can only walk these fields when there are no stock in them.
   Am I right to feel suspicious about the badger findings? We have enjoyed your jottings !

   
   
2. on January 16, 2010 at 7:49 pm badgerman

   Hi Rick – glad to hear that you’ve been enjoying the snow. I know what you mean by the hundreds of rabbit tracks. They seem to be everywhere. When the snow had been down for few days it became difficult to follow other tracks because of all the rabbit tracks on top of them.

   The dead badgers you found are sad, but not unusual. A cub outside the sett in February would be pretty young. It may have been an orphan if the mother was killed on the road as it would be too young to fend for itself, but – as with the young of any animals – there are many reasons why badger cubs may die. The lack of occupation at the sett may be due to the death of the adults, but it is also true that individual holes may be abandoned as the badgers move around. This movement between holes is one of the things that continues to puzzle me.

   So your suspicions may be accurate, but they may not. Either way, an unoccupied badger territory is never left empty for long. If there aren’t badgers in residence then sooner or later there will be.

   Keep enjoying the wildlife!

   BWM

   
   
3. on October 16, 2011 at 7:33 pm michael

   i have a day in november reserved for tracking badgers wheather permitting,myself including 5 others will investigate a large area of land that i now know has woodland present in 2 places,if the areas are large enough,and can provide shelter,security and warmth then theres know reason i can think of why there shouldn`t be a sett in there………apart from,there might not even be one in there! fingers crossed though.

   
   
4. on October 16, 2011 at 8:59 pm Badger Watching Man

   Hi Michael

   Good luck with your expedition. Looking for setts is a great way to spend a day – it gives you a perfect excuse to wander around and be nosy.

   Good luck, and let us know how you get on.

   All the best

   BWM