Camera Trap at the Badger Sett

It’s been too cold for me to attempt any badger watching recently, but I’ve been putting out peanuts for the local badgers and leaving my camera trap to see what’s going on. Last year there were four adults in the sett at the start of the year and they produced six cubs, so it was rather crowded by autumn. I expect some of the cubs will have dispersed to other setts by now. It would be very interesting to find out which cubs have gone where, but it’s very difficult to track them around here, due to the number of landowners. They could well be on private land which I don’t have access to.

Two badgers share the peanuts

Dry leaves will make comfortable bedding material

I’m hoping for more cubs this year of course. They’ll be born around now and will stay underground until the end of April or early May, when I’ll be out hoping to see their first emergence from the sett. For now, there are few clues as to what’s going on underground. One end of the sett has always been used as the ‘nursery end’ in past years and the paths in that area are currently well worn, which is a good sign. They tend to move to holes further along later in the year, nearer to the feeding area where I always leave the peanuts.

Wood mouse hopefully checks the area for any remaining peanuts

Curious roe doe checks out the camera trap

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