Badger, Badger,Badger Part 1

Do you remember when the internet was a much safer and more innocent place? When a short animation featuring badgers and snakes was a viral hit. Well last week I had my own badger moment.

I monitor a sett which is in some woods at the bottom of a friends garden and I have a number of trail cameras set up to see what's happening down there. I usually check the cameras at the weekend and I'd noticed that not only did the badgers have cubs but they were also coming out a lot earlier when it would be still light enough to photograph them.

I scattered redskin peanuts and then set up my camera down the slope and I disappeared under my camouflage blanket which was thrown over my camera and tripod. As the sett is under some trees it does get darker quicker down there and I was thinking about heading home when I glimpsed a movement between the trees. The distinctive black and white face of one of the clan appeared and sniffed the air.

It slowly walked down and began to snuffle up the peanuts I'd spread in the grass. It remained in the dip in the ground keeping a low profile.

The badgersensed something wasn't quite right and I think caught a whiff of me on the breeze and headed back to the sanctuary of the sett. However the lure of peanuts proved too much and a few minutes later it came back to tuck in, this time standing up on the banking.

The badger tucked in andwithin a few minutes it had hoovered up the peanuts and headed home.

It was getting quite dark now and a little on the chilly side so I packed up and headed home. I was already planning a visit for the next day and I knew next time to bring a bigger bag of nuts.

It can be tough sometimes sitting out at this time of year but these few minutes made the evening truly magical, and a couple of days later my badger viewing got even better!