Badger Tracking Success!

Wandering across the snow-covered fields near our house a few weeks ago we came across some tracks. Consulting identification books back home we reckoned they were made by a badger. We followed the tracks across the field until they faded away where the snow was sparse near a fenced spruce plantation. There was no way a badger could get through the mesh of the fence, but the tracks led towards a hole in the wire that was big enough. Maybe the badger went into the wood here? And if so, maybe badgers did so regularly. Hazel suggested putting my trail camera in the wood pointing at the hole in the fence to find out.

Crawling through the spiky, densely packed trees was not easy but I managed to fix the trail cam round a tree trunk. Several days later we retrieved it and were disappointed. No badgers. Or maybe there was. One very blurred image suggested something had gone right up to the camera. Hazel reckoned it was a badger.

We tried again. This time Hazel set the camera up and did a better job than me as it was lower down and angled to cover a fair amount of the ground. The images from my placement had shown the fence and tree branches clearly but not much ground. Another week or so and we went back to get the camera, hoping this time we’d see something.

Success! There was a badger. Or possibly a few as one appeared in nine images over four days. We were delighted! Very simple tracking but it was pleasing to know we were right. And that there were badgers.

There was also another blurred image that looked like the badger’s head was right up against the camera. The following pictures were at an angle. The camera had been knocked out of position. 

Then, after some more badger pictures, there was another very, very  blurred image, possibly showing fur. After that there were no more badgers as the camera  was now pointing up into the branches and over the fence, too high to capture any animals on the ground though there was a shot of me approaching the fence.

We’ve know for years there were badgers in the area and had seen them very occasionally so their presence wasn’t a surprise. Following the track and then confirming where they entered the wood was interesting and satisfying though. It was also interesting that they seemed to be curious about the camera and investigated it closely enough to knock it out of position more than once.

The trail cam is somewhere else now. We’re excited to know what it will reveal.