I feel I should give an account of how my badger-watching career began.
I moved out of London and into the country about five years ago. Another thirty-something professional in search of the good life. I have always enjoyed being out in the countryside: I grew up in a fairly rural area and I’ve spent as much time out of doors as I could, whether it’s been fishing, walking, camping, cross-country running or just mooching about. The natural world has always fascinated me, and over the years I’ve seen a great deal of the British wildlife, from the wild red kites of the Black Mountains to minke whales in the Irish Sea.
Like everyone, I was familiar with the idea of badgers. I’d caught glimpses of a few as they dashed across the road in front of my car at night, and I’d grown accustomed to the sad sight of dead badgers on roadside verges. But I’d never really got close to one though, and if I thought about it, it seemed to me that I had missed out on something.
But I never set out to become the Badger Watching Man – it was never a conscious decision. It came about entirely by accident.
One evening a couple of years ago I went for a walk through the woods near my village. It was a pleasant summer evening, and I had no particular aim in mind other than to go out and get a breath of fresh air. The woods had that close feeling that you get on summer evenings, as if the trees have been soaking in the heat all day and even though the air is getting a little chill in the fields, the woods seem to radiate a gentle warmth in the still air.
It was close to dusk and I was heading home when I heard a thrashing sound in the undergrowth. The woods in this area contain quite a few deer, chiefly muntjac and some fallow deer, so it is not uncommon to disturb large animals as you walk and then hear them crashing off.
The noise came closer. Whatever it was, it was coming towards me, invisible in the undergrowth. “Right”, I said to myself, “here’s a chance to have a good look at a deer”. I sat down quietly by the side of path and waited. I’d learned a long time ago that merely by sitting still and quiet you can see all manner of wild things.
The noise grew louder in the still air as the animal came closer. I imagined what size of creature it could be. From the noise it was making it must be at least the size of a deer.
The suspense was perfect. Being in a forest, alone, at dusk and listening to an unseen animal moving towards you is a wonderfully primeval feeling. Of course, there are no dangerous animals in Britain, I know that perfectly well, but some distant genetic memory still made the hairs on the back of my neck stand up.
The crashing, stomping noise grew ever closer, and just when I thought it must surely be upon me, the long grass parted on the other side of the path not ten feet away from me. There, instead of the mighty deer I had expected, was the stripey face of a badger.
The badger came to an abrupt stop. It looked at me sternly, much as a schoolteacher might look at you over the top of their spectacles, and snorted. For a long second we sat there looking at each other, each one as surprised as the other. Then, with another quiet snort, the badger turned around and went back the way he’d come, making even more noise than before, if possible.
I just sat there. I’d just come face to face with one of Britain’s more secretive animals in the most dramatic way possible.
From that moment I was hooked. I had to find out more.
Tales from the Wood - The Diary of a Badger Watching Man 
Hi
I was very interested in your website. I have recently had the opportunity to watch badgers and any information I can get is really helpful. I’ve not yet found the sett, but have succeeded in getting them to feed in front of a hide. My problem at the moment is trying to identify individuals and decide what sex and age the badgers are. “If in doubt, it’s a female” would work for me, but what size would this years cubs now be? I’ve started a blog on what I’m doing, all wrong probably! It’s here http://naturewatchingdiary.blogspot.com/. Drop in every now and then and see how things are going.
Thanks,
Mex
Hi Mex – welcome to a fellow enthusiast. Be careful with the badgers – they get addictive! Don’t say you weren’t warned…
I wouldn’t worry about doing anything wrong. My one big rule is ‘don’t disturb the badgers’. As long as you follow that rule then everything else seems to follow.
As for identifying individual badgers, I still have no success at this. I’ll let you into a secret. One of the reasons for starting this blog was to give me somewhere to put pictures and videos. I thought that if I could study the pictures enough then I’d get to know the badgers, but it hasn’t happened yet. It’s frustrating because to really understand how the group behaves I really need to recognise the individuals.
If it’s any consolation, Hans Kruuk, probably the most experienced badger scientist in the world, confessed that he found it difficult to recognise badgers, and he could sometimes only tell the sex of a badger when it had been trapped and anaesthetised. So there’s hope for us all!
Recognising individual badgers is difficult, unless they have old injuries to an ear or something like that. Michael Clarke says to look at the shape of the white flash on the face, the colour and size of the tail and any difference about the ears.
I still find it impossible but I think you need to put in much more time to this than I can spare. The only person I know who can do this reliably is Chris Ferris – but she is intimately aquainted with her badgers.
Chris is an amazing lady, very brave – spends all night out with her badgers- and works with the RSPCA & police to protect them from badger baiters.
Mex, you might enjoy reading Chris Ferris’s books – The Darkness is Light Enough, Out of Darkness and The Badgers of Ashcroft Wood.
Evening BWM! Been casually browsing your blog today and enjoying some of your escapades 🙂
I’ve always been fascinated by British nocturnal wildlife – the creatures most people don’t encounter – and especially our native badger. I’ve seen many sad sights of them at the sides of roads, but never a live one in the wild, until last Saturday night! Unfortunately for me, it was at the end of a week’s break in Lincolnshire and I won’t be going back to the same place for at least a couple of years, and I have no idea if there are any badger setts to watch anywhere near where I live in north Kent.
I’d spent a few days prior to the sighting visiting the woods where I was pretty sure were badger setts – research into field techniques and then applying them to my surroundings confirmed it with evidence of dung pits, pathways, definite entrance holes and bedding etc all being present. Strangely, the wood in which they reside is quite well used by humans, joggers, cyclists and dog-walkers all regular visitors but this doesn’t seem to deter the beasts! The most obvious sett entrance is literally next to the main path in the wood too, I was sure it must be disused but this was the entrance hole I witnessed the badger, snuffling around for morsels.
Sadly though, my experience was pretty short – just a few minutes. I should have gone alone but my mother-in-law, who loves animals wanted to come with me. The badger at first seemed undeterred and tolerated our presence well, until MIL began to try and get closer, not listening to my pleas to remain where we were 😦 That was that, I broke a twig underfoot and Mr. Brock scuttled into his sett, whence we made our way out of the woods as quietly as possible.
Still, this had to be the most magical night of my life – I never thought I’d be so lucky as to just see them like that. Next time, I’m going alone and using all my newly found knowledge to make it a better experience for man and badger!
Hi Mr M, and welcome
Thank you very much for sharing your experience – sounds like it won’t be the last time you come face to face with a badger!
Would you mind if I posted your comment as a ‘guest post’? I think it would be good to share it more widely.
Many thanks and all the best
BWM
Of course not, go right ahead 🙂 and you’re right, I doubt it will be my last encounter!
Mr M
hi i have started to try and watch badgers in scotland i have found the dens but seeing the badgers is not going to be easy but i will try and be patiant i dont think they come out till real late.
Hi Stewart, and welcome!
I think that makes two of us struggling to see badgers at the moment. I hope that you’re having more luck than I am. This is my first real season of badger watching in winter, so I’m still getting to grips with the badgers’ routine. Not to mention the fact that it’s a lot colder than in summer.
Good luck with your efforts!
All the best
BWM
Hi BWM
I came across your site by accident. I watched a group of badgers for five years and had some amazing experiences with them. I have only looked at a few bits of your site but will come back to read all your blogs. Have you got to grips with Identifying individual badgers yet? It is possible. The face markings are the easiest way. Sometimes colour too. I had a couple of very dark badgers in my group and was lucky to have erythritics (sp) too. Battle wounds can help too.
I no longer watch badgers on such a regular basis but watch them several times each year. I do miss the special relationship I built up with my clan.
Wildlifelady