I had been getting a little perplexed by the behaviour of my badgers; in particular I was worried that they had been driven to eat bark by the recent dry weather. However, the more I looked at the problem, the less sure I became.
Thanks very much to everyone who shared their experience with me here. Spiney, for instance, sent me a picture of bark-eating near a badger sett in Yorkshire. This looks like a beech tree – another tree with quite a sugary bark.
Bark eating - picture by Spiney - thanks!
John from Badgerpics.org.uk very helpfully supplied information on the bark-eating habits of different animals, whilst on a related topic Josie was very helpful with further details of the badger ‘nests’. Thanks everyone – it’s great to have this sort of assistance.
To try and settle the matter I spent the evening down at the Pine Tree sett. My plan was to lurk around and see if I could catch the culprit in the act.
When I arrived I realised that it was even less likely that badgers were to blame. The bark-eating had spread to the neighboring trees and extended far up into the branches. There is no way a badger could get so high on such a thin branch.
More bark damage
In fact, the only animal I know that can reach these branches is a squirrel. This seems to be the only possible explanation. It is far too high for deer, rabbits, badgers or even voles. The toothmarks on the high level damage are the same as on the ground level damage, so the same animal is responsible for all of it.
Bark tooth marks
There were indeed squirrels in the area, and they were feeding in the sycamore trees, but I couldn’t quite see exactly what they were feeding on.
To make sure, I sat well back from the area and waited, just in case a badger came out and had a quick nibble on a tree. I was sitting far back from the bank so I couldn’t see the hole, but at 8.50pm I heard the unmistakable sound of a badger scratching, and then a few seconds later the badger itself ambled into view. Before I could even raise the camera it trotted off towards the southern end of the sett. It walked past the freshly gnawed tree without even a second glance.
So there you have it. Two hours of sitting in a wood for one 15 second view of a badger. It was worth it though. The bark was a mystery, but it’s been an interesting challenge to work out what was going on.
So, to conclude, it seems that badgers can and do eat bark, particularly sycamore. However, on this occasion it looks like I have one or more rogue squirrels in the area who have taken a liking to it. The fact that they started to eat the bark at ground level and right outside a badger sett put me on the wrong track for a while, but the true facts emerged.
Like I said, it keeps me out of mischief!
Tales from the Wood - The Diary of a Badger Watching Man 
That sure looks like squirrius teeth marks to me. Have a look here. (sorry for the huge link – it’s one I saved ages ago.
Pablo.
http://images.google.co.uk/imgres?imgurl=http://farm4.static.flickr.com/3224/2863076367_2490267acd_o.jpg&imgrefurl=http://snailstales.blogspot.com/2008/09/squirrel-teeth-marks-on-bone.html&usg=__kBa5PjviORFJ5maDTpF1wt6Mn5w=&h=267&w=454&sz=18&hl=en&start=20&um=1&tbnid=2R9bok0CWyGVnM:&tbnh=75&tbnw=128&prev=/images%3Fq%3Dsquirrel%2Bchew%2Bmarks%26ndsp%3D18%26hl%3Den%26client%3Dfirefox-a%26rls%3Dorg.mozilla:en-GB:official%26sa%3DN%26start%3D18%26um%3D1
thanks for inspiring a bit of new research – tho the damage to the base of beech & sycamore is in no doubt – Im not convinced yet either way on the tall scratching , the spacing of claw-marks is very different , & cubs are all well developed now – will take some measurements & cross-reference my findings – I would just love to see a ladder of badgers reaching up there – but probability says squirrel : (
Thanks for the link Pablo. I agree, the marks do look similar. I’m used to seeing badger claw marks on trees, but these are quite different.
One day I’ll catch the little blighters in the act!
Warren, Ohio 44484. Mosquito Creek wildlife corridor. Thanks for helping with this mystery. We have Fox, Raccoon, Deer, Groundhog, and Squirrels in the woods. Have never seen the Beech bark removed like this. Only Beech trees, and bout 15 different trees. Have not observed the eating but they eat areas as large as a square foot in one sitting. Some cases they have almost completely girdled the tree. One oddity and coincidence is; this is first year we have a very small population of black squirrels. They do not mingle with the greys and are very shy of humans They also nest very near the beech bark eaten trees.Not saying it is the black ones, or even squirrels for sure since we have not yet caught anything in act. We also entertained the possibility of our beautiful Pilated Woodpeckers because i have watched and filmed them in over a half hour session devour tree stumps, but the beech have definite teeth marking.
Thanks for the probable, Squirrels are probably it. In our 30 plus years here we have never seen the beech bark eating, but this year June 2012, we have seen at least 15 trees with some areas as large as a square foot eaten in one sitting. We have never actually observed this, so we think it happens at night. We have: Fox, Deer, Groundhogs, Beaver, and Pilated Woodpeckers that we put on the list of possible culprits. One unusual coincidence is; This is this first year we have a small population of resident Black Squirrels that nest right in the area this is going on. Again we have not actually seen anything doing this. Another Oddity is : this is the first year in memory that the dozens of cottonwood tress here have not put out any cotton at all!
the area is the Mosquito Creek wildlife corridor. Howland, Ohio 44484.