It’s been a day of firsts. I heard my first cuckoo of the year today and I also saw my first swallow. I know that one swallow doesn’t make a summer, but it’s been a glorious day. Everything is green and growing, and the air has that beautiful, lush foliage smell of early summer.
I went up to the wood in the evening, but the badgers were in a jittery mood. The wind plays funny tricks on warm days, often changing direction around dusk. The sett is on a hillside, and on warm, still days there tends to be a slight breeze uphill as the warm air rises. As the sun goes down the colder air starts to sink and the wind direction reverses. I think this happened tonight and the badgers picked up my scent.
One of the adults came out of the west entrance a few minutes before 8.00pm and gathered bedding, but it did not hang around. At 8.15 another pair came out of the eastern entrance and gathered more bedding. The undergrowth in the wood is getting quite lush, and the badgers are taking advantage of it. It is thought by some people that badgers deliberately gather green bedding as this ‘ferments’ in the sett and gives off warmth.
The badgers were on edge though. They would pause every now and then and sniff the air. I called it a night at 8.30, not wanting to cause them any disturbance. It is still a bit dark at this time for decent photographs, but I snapped a quick shot anyway.
I’ll be back soon, and hopefully the cubs will be out too.
Tales from the Wood - The Diary of a Badger Watching Man 
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