Badger Watching

30 Days Wild, day 25: Today is the start of 'National Badger Week', so naturally I went badger watching. There are two cubs at the sett this year, one slightly bigger than the other. At first they were closely supervised by two adult females, so I assumed they were cousins, rather than twins. Over the last few weeks, I've only seen one female, but she's keeping a close watch on both cubs.

 A snack before dinner

Tonight, big cub appeared at about 9:30 and cautiously approached the peanuts I'd put out for them. Little cub was soon watching from the sett entrance and then joined big cub, anxious not to miss out on anything. Mother was watching, initially from the sett entrance, but then she moved around to my left, so she was downwind of me, and sniffed the air suspiciously. If she's not happy, she'll make a barely audible grunt and the cubs will run flat out back to the sett, without hesitation. This time she was satisfied that it was safe, joined the cubs and finished off the peanuts. The cubs had a good scratch while mum snuffled about amongst the leaf litter, walking right underneath my ladder. She then led the cubs away through the brambles. She'd take them into the adjacent field to look for worms.

Edited highlights

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