First of all, thanks Ghillie and Josie for your comments on the last post. Sorry I haven’t got around to replying sooner. The consensus is that the badger at the Pine Tree sett could well be Nick, but I guess we’ll never know for sure. What I need is some sort of badger face recognition software…
I’ve just come back from a peaceful evening at the Pine Tree sett. It was totally undisturbed by badgers, anyway.
A badgers-eye view - full camouflage
I was making another attempt to photograph the badger there. Everything was right. The wind was coming from a slightly different direction so I didn’t have to sit in the nettles – I had a perfect view of the sett entrance from directly downwind. I was dressed up in my best camouflage outfit and my silhouette was well hidden by the bank of earth. I was in a comfortable position and I sat still for an hour and a half until it got too dark for pictures. In short, it was perfect, except that no badger showed itself.
To be honest, it’s a complex sett. There are at least two active holes a hundred yards apart and (it seems) only one badger. It could well have been in the other hole and I’d never have known.
I don’t regard evenings like this as wasted, not in the slightest. It is enjoyable to sit there on a comfortable bed of leaves and listen to the wind in the trees and the owls hooting. There’ll be plenty of chances to get to grips with the badgers again in the future.
Tales from the Wood - The Diary of a Badger Watching Man 
Well, it fooled me!
I thought your were a log!
No wonder you get such good footage.
Its certain each month with even a Sett inhabited by several individuals, that they will elude you on exits. Sitting patiently awaiting the stripes only to hear at best ,whickering play fifty yards away in the undergrowth and wondering how the hell they got past you. Maybe they dug a new burrow! Happens to me all the time. Depending on the Sett lay out, I sometimes try to position myself in relation to an exit that will have the wind blowing towards it, which inevitably puts me on a crosswind. I try and keep a tally but mostly they will use a hole that they can have a good sniff from and where they expect danger ie; The stinky leaf man with the metal tububular eyes.
As with yours, [nice blending], even with the most perfect set ups things just don’t work out. You look very comfy, maybe you took a nap and missed him!
Thanks – as I said, it’s a funny site this one. I’m still not sure that the camo is really needed for badgers, but as I say, it gives me confidence to sit out in the open.
And I have a confession to make. I have, on a number of occasions, fallen asleep while waiting for badgers. My excuse is that I work long hours and I’m obviously comfortable in the outdoors. Somewhat alarmingly, I’ve even fallen asleep more than once while sitting in a tree – health and safety would have something to say about that!
To round it off, I’m re-reading Eileen Soper’s Badgers, a fantastic book that my mother bought for me years ago (in fact, years before I ever saw a badger – she always was farsighted). Here’s a quote from the book, written in 1951:
‘It needs great patience and a good knowledge of the animal’s habits to see much of him in his natural surroundings. But once we begin watching there is no retreat, for the badger has a fascination few naturalists can resist. The lure takes us out night after night and failures seem only to enhance the desire to try again.’
I think this sums it up better than I ever could…
Camo is mostly always a benefit especially at close quarters.
You don’t really need it for Badgers, Olive or khaki is fine so they say, but I wear it for them as it helps psychologically also. Feeling more part of the enviroment by mimic. I have used it for twenty odd years exclusively for bigger subjects so don’t change for one. However I don’t use ScentLok gear on anything except Deer [at times] but i’m sure it would be of benefit.
Ha, me too. I’m always nodding off and its not through boredom. I certainly don’t think I work as hard as you! It has something to do with a combination of relaxation, humid temperatures and multiple layering [mosquitoes]. As for trees I use a safety belt now as I had a friend end up in a wheelchair after falling out of a treestand in the U.S. Wasn’t high either.
I think what Eileen Soper says about Badgers could be said for most animals that we quest for, but she is right in that they do have an elusive magic, a spell that draws you into glimpses of their world.