Friday 14th March 2025

Spoil heaps, setts, snuffle holes and scent marking.  There was a decidedly chilly edge to the lunchtime club this Thursday, but it certainly hadn’t put off our badgers, who have been very active.  A new  spoil heap has appeared near the sett we know the badgers are using.  The soil is a fine tilth and it just goes to show what amazing engineers they are and how well adapted they are to digging and living underground.  Unusually, our session began looking at a few more of our badger clips, which led to a discussion about why they would live underground.  Suggestions ranged from “to keep warm” and to “keep the cubs protected”, because they are vulnerable to predators. We then talked about how constant temperatures tend to be underground, making them ideal in winter and summer, as they avoid extremes.  What followed, was then a chat about how they kept their setts clean and we looked briefly at a clip showing the extent of all the chambers that lead off the entrance. Badgers will periodically remove bedding to let it dry out or be replaced.  There has been a lot of fresh badger dung in the latrines, which is how they keep their living quarters clean, but also a way of scent marking and establishing their territorial rights.  Whilst we were discussing predation, they were surprised that wolves used to be a predator in this country and all agreed that the main place they had seen dead badgers was on the road.  Again, this led to a chat about just how old badger pathways are- at least 100 years- so long before roads had cars.  The range of a badger’s territory varies but is often about 100-300 metres.  We may have more than one clan in this area.  Finally, we looked at a badger’s footprint, a badger guard hair, badger snuffle holes ( triangular dents in the soil where they have looked for worms.) and scratches on nearby tree trunks.  They then went out and looked for these signs and as usual we ran out of time, but managed a few photos.