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

I commute into work on the train so I drive to the station each morning.   Instead of driving the quick way on the main roads I get up a little earlier and drive a longer route along the country lanes.  I like this – there’s always a chance of coming across the local wildlife on the quieter roads and in the woods and I feel that I get out into the proper countryside every day, even on workdays.  On most journeys I’ll see something – a muntjac, a chinese water deer or a hare.

But this morning, after a year and a half of driving this route, I added a new species to the list.  As I drove up the lane about a mile from home, there was a badger, trotting along happily at the side of the road.  This was at 6.30 this morning, so it was late for a badger to be out foraging, but it had been a mild, damp night so it was perfect conditions for catching worms.  Maybe it stayed out to make the most of it.

I’ve never seen a badger around here before, but it was next to a large patch of (unfortunately private) woodland, so I guess it lives close.  Apart from adding a little to my badger map of the area it was good to see one of the beasts again.  It’s the first live badger I’ve seen since September.  I feel like a proper Badger Watching Man again.