Once again I swapped a relaxing Saturday evening for the dubious pleasures of sitting in a patch of nettles and being ferociously bitten by mosquitoes. To make matters worse, I didn’t see hide nor hair of a badger. To use the fishing expression, I ‘blanked’.
Let me explain. I’ve been down at the Pine Tree sett again, and I’ve been there for a reason. Regular readers will know of my frustration at not being able to recognise individual badgers. In fact, there’s only been a couple of badgers that I could identify reliably.
One of these was a badger I saw last year that was recognisable by a notch or nick in the black stripe, just under the ear. With a startling lack of imagination I name him Nick (although he may be a Nicola – I’ve never been good at sexing badgers). See Fieldnotes: 6th July 2009 for more details.
Here is a picture of Nick, showing the distinctive stripe pattern:
Nick the badger from July last year
So what has this to do with the Pine Tree sett? Well, all season I’ve been looking out for Nick at the main sett and I haven’t seen him. This is the one badger I can recognise and there’s been no sign of him at all. But – and here’s the interesting part – the single badger I’ve seen at the Pine Tree sett had a very similar notch in its stripe.
Now, it could be that the notch in the stripe is a common feature and more than one badger in the area has it. This could well be the case if it is some sort of inherited feature. On the other hand (and you can see where this is going), it could mean that Nick has left the main sett and moved to the Pine Tree sett. This fits all the evidence so far.
If this is the case then I’ve got an example of a badger moving between setts, which is just the sort of thing I’ve been looking for. Hence I decided to go to the Pine Tree sett to try to get a clear picture of the badger there so I can compare it to Nick.
Unfortunately, although the entrance I watched looked like it is still used regularly, I saw nothing. There’s a good chance the badger was in one of the other holes.
The idea is still sound though. I’ll try to get down again and get a picture before the nights start drawing in.
Tales from the Wood - The Diary of a Badger Watching Man 
Is there any such thing as a blank? The questions that arose that evening I would say, made the effort well worth while. Thats what I keep telling myself anyway! As you know thats what makes the good shows that much more magical.
I would think that you have recognised an individual, which isn’t easy and have registered its movement between Setts.
I would be surprised if the nick was an inherant pelage trait, more likely just an individual mark, but you never know.
If there is fresh spoil the resident/s may still use other less used holes depending on the wind or whatever side of the bed it/they get out of.
Thanks Ghillie – you’re right of course, it wasn’t a wasted evening at all. It was very pleasant way to spend a few hours, sitting in the peace and quiet of a deserted wood.
Actually, I never minded blanking when I went fishing either. I once spent a whole summer fishing for carp in a beautiful lake in Kent. I never caught a single one, but it was a wonderful summer…