Comments on: Badger Watching for Beginners http://www.woodlands.co.uk/blog/woodland-activities/badger-watching-for-beginners/ A blog about woodland activities, outdoor skills and conservation Thu, 29 Jul 2010 18:20:24 +0000 hourly 1 http://wordpress.org/?v=3.0.1 By: David Plummer http://www.woodlands.co.uk/blog/woodland-activities/badger-watching-for-beginners/comment-page-1/#comment-1917 David Plummer Thu, 20 Nov 2008 20:15:20 +0000 http://www.woodlands.co.uk/blog/wildlife/badger-watching-for-beginners/#comment-1917 Alison I'm sorry to hear that you're down to one badger. My feeling is that if the sett has not been persecuted by people digging out the animals (evidenced by dug out holes)then they have probably just shifted elsewhere. Badgers actually have several setts within their territory and sometimes all or some of them move to one of their other setts. A typical time for this to happen is just after the cubs are weened (June), they get taken to another sett and the main sett appears empty for few weeks. The very high levels of rain we had last week may have led to them moving to a sett a bit higher up on the water table. Also, if you interrupted your feeding for any reason then they may also have just thought that there was no longer any food available and have started foraging in better areas. So, in short I think your badgers are probably perfectly OK, they,ve just changed their behaviour and will probably be back! As well as normal badger watching events in 2009 I am also leading Badger biology workshops which track badger paths, signs, latrines and a variety of setts before ending in an evening watch; I do this on behalf of Sussex wildlife trust www.sussexwt.org.uk I hope this helps Alison
I’m sorry to hear that you’re down to one badger. My feeling is that if the sett has not been persecuted by people digging out the animals (evidenced by dug out holes)then they have probably just shifted elsewhere. Badgers actually have several setts within their territory and sometimes all or some of them move to one of their other setts. A typical time for this to happen is just after the cubs are weened (June), they get taken to another sett and the main sett appears empty for few weeks. The very high levels of rain we had last week may have led to them moving to a sett a bit higher up on the water table.
Also, if you interrupted your feeding for any reason then they may also have just thought that there was no longer any food available and have started foraging in better areas.
So, in short I think your badgers are probably perfectly OK, they,ve just changed their behaviour and will probably be back!
As well as normal badger watching events in 2009 I am also leading Badger biology workshops which track badger paths, signs, latrines and a variety of setts before ending in an evening watch; I do this on behalf of Sussex wildlife trust http://www.sussexwt.org.uk
I hope this helps

]]> By: Alison http://www.woodlands.co.uk/blog/woodland-activities/badger-watching-for-beginners/comment-page-1/#comment-1911 Alison Tue, 18 Nov 2008 23:28:28 +0000 http://www.woodlands.co.uk/blog/wildlife/badger-watching-for-beginners/#comment-1911 Can anyone advise us on the likely cause of a mystery re the Badgers who have been visting us since spring this year (2008)? We started with just the one, did a bit of research and began laying out peanuts. One turned to two, then three so on until we sometimes had six badgers munching away on our patio. What a delight! The kids have had special late nights to watch and family have been round amazed at our scurrying, foraging friends. We even have photos of them foraging through the snow looking for and tucking into the nuts! Then, suddenly and without a slow drop off, we are back to just one badger. A neighbour mentioned that Police were in the woodsat the back of our garden recently, so we went to look at what we thought was the sett and there are no obvious signs of disturbance (but we are not sure precisley what we're looking for). Can anyone sugest a reason why this might have happened? We feel somewhat responsible for 'him' and wonder if there is anything we could or should be doing to look after our one remaining badger? He's out there right now, all alone.... Can anyone advise us on the likely cause of a mystery re the Badgers who have been visting us since spring this year (2008)? We started with just the one, did a bit of research and began laying out peanuts. One turned to two, then three so on until we sometimes had six badgers munching away on our patio. What a delight! The kids have had special late nights to watch and family have been round amazed at our scurrying, foraging friends. We even have photos of them foraging through the snow looking for and tucking into the nuts! Then, suddenly and without a slow drop off, we are back to just one badger. A neighbour mentioned that Police were in the woodsat the back of our garden recently, so we went to look at what we thought was the sett and there are no obvious signs of disturbance (but we are not sure precisley what we’re looking for). Can anyone sugest a reason why this might have happened? We feel somewhat responsible for ‘him’ and wonder if there is anything we could or should be doing to look after our one remaining badger? He’s out there right now, all alone….

]]> By: Tracy Pepler http://www.woodlands.co.uk/blog/woodland-activities/badger-watching-for-beginners/comment-page-1/#comment-1808 Tracy Pepler Fri, 31 Oct 2008 18:13:13 +0000 http://www.woodlands.co.uk/blog/wildlife/badger-watching-for-beginners/#comment-1808 After listening to David talk on badger watching at the last SWOG (small woodland owners group) meeting (www.woodlands.co.uk/swog) Mike and I had a go at badger watching. We got a bit of a video! http://peplers.blogspot.com/2008/07/badger-video.html After listening to David talk on badger watching at the last SWOG (small woodland owners group) meeting (www.woodlands.co.uk/swog) Mike and I had a go at badger watching. We got a bit of a video!

http://peplers.blogspot.com/2008/07/badger-video.html

]]> By: Helen Jones http://www.woodlands.co.uk/blog/woodland-activities/badger-watching-for-beginners/comment-page-1/#comment-1767 Helen Jones Mon, 20 Oct 2008 23:47:25 +0000 http://www.woodlands.co.uk/blog/wildlife/badger-watching-for-beginners/#comment-1767 Thanks for the info - it's the most comprehensive I've read so far and I will be checking our wood again soon for signs! Thanks for the info – it’s the most comprehensive I’ve read so far and I will be checking our wood again soon for signs!

]]>