I love woodlands.

The more ancient the better as they tend to have increased biodiversity and lots of microhabitats. This means they change character from one place to another and there’s always something new to see each time you go. That is why during my interview for this internship, Coombes Valley was my first choice. Parts of Coombes Valley have been wooded for hundreds of years so are classed as ancient woodland. On my initial exploration of the site I do what I usually do - I went for a wee wander.

I love immersing myself in the habitat, paying attention to all the senses; the smell of the earth, the sounds of the wind and birds in the trees, the burbling brook, and the feel of the bark and moss. On my wander I was drawn to a wee clearing and noticed lots of holes and tunnels.

Holes and tunnels - Cara Bell

I remembered these from the ‘mammal’s tracks and signs’ short course I took with Trees for Life, and that they belonged to field voles.

Field vole - RSPB images

Sure enough I was able to locate some evidence of nibbling where there were straight cuts through stalks of grass and a latrine.

Field vole latrine - Cara Bell

Further on I saw some disturbed ground where it looked like something had been scratching around with droppings scattered here and there.

Disturbed ground - Cara Bell

Now as disgusting as it may sound, when you’re tracking mammals, you have to do a bit more investigating. So I gave the poo a good sniff and to my surprise found it wasn’t unpleasant. Is it a herbivore? As animals that eat only plants have less pungent poo. Squashing it in between a large leaf, I realised that it was very wet and soft. Digging about a bit with a stick I also found bits of undigested moss. What eats moss? Or is the fact that it was undigested mean that this creature isn’t supposed to eat moss? Herbivores tend to have more solid pellets so it couldn’t be a deer. I needed to do more investigation online.

Mysterious droppings - Cara Bell

In doing so, I discovered that they were badger droppings; being not unpleasant in scent and very soft when eating lot’s of earthworms. This also ties in with the disturbed ground where they would have been rooting about foraging. On that basis I concluded the moss was probably eaten unintentionally when munching the worms.

Badger - RSPB images

This is exciting. Not only have I both remembered and learned something but I have also never seen a badger.

It’s exciting to find signs of creatures going about their daily business, especially mammals which are often so difficult to see. Hopefully during my time here I will be able to see them but in the meantime I think I’m going to set up my camera trap . . .