Badger tracking

Lots of animals leave signs of where they’ve been. Some are more obvious than others though…

Trip hazard! (Photo: Jack Plumb)

This mole isn’t too bothered to reveal its whereabouts, probably because it knows it’s pretty safe underground. I imagine our gardeners aren’t too pleased with its presence though.

There’s an active badger set just off the track I take for one of my favourite Lodge walks. It’s plain to see where they live, but not so obvious to see where they’ve been. This last week I decided I’d do a bit of detective work, and track their movements. But before you continue reading, please be aware that there's an image you wouldn't want to come across if you were eating. You have been warned!

I have to admit that my friend Danny gave me the idea for this blog after he found some great tracks on a sandy path that runs through one of the heather patches. The tracks were so well preserved despite the morning rain. I’m pretty confident in saying the image below is of a badger’s right hind leg, and a fore leg I can’t determine. There were lots of tracks, so I reckon there was more than one individual using this path on the same night. Let me know if you think I’ve got this track ID wrong by contacting natureshome@rspb.org.uk - is it left, or right?

I'm convinced the zoomed in image shows a badger's right hind leg - what do you think? (Photo: Danny Heptinstall)

Badgers dig. A lot. They dig for food, dig to make a home, and dig for when nature calls. All around the set there were signs like the ones below. Some of the food forays were at least 100 meters away, so these iconic British mammals are certainly getting about the place. Badger droppings vary greatly depending on their diet. It could be anything from a cocktail sausage to a pile of sludge, but you’ll almost certainly find it in a shallow hole, as they like to use a latrine close to – but not too close – the set. I think this one has been mostly eating earthworms. That ties in with the shallow scrapes dotted around.

Digging for earthworms on the left, and the earthworms on the way out on the right - sorry! (Photo: Jack Plumb)

As the tracks in a previous image revealed, badgers like sticking to the highways. This image below shows a badger made highway close to their set. It’s a clear indicator of the route they’re taking in and out of their home.

This would be the perfect spot for a camera trap (Photo: Jack Plumb)

And since we’re here, let’s see if anyone’s in…

Anybody home? (Photo: Jack Plumb) 

I think they’re asleep.

If you'd like to know more about badgers, have a look at this great book by James Lowen. If you spot any badgers this year, let us know! We'd love to read your badger stories, so send them to natureshome@rspb.org.uk

Jack