I asked on a couple of my groups (Bristol Wildlife and Bristol Foxes and Badgers) whether anyone had noted unusual badger activity. Typically only one person responded (location not identified):
"Hello Terry. You asked about unusual badger sightings.
"So FYI I live on ----------- and have done for nearly 30 years, and for the first time in all my 72 years I've seen a live badger. And it was in my garden .
"We regularly have foxes and hedgehogs, and I also spotted a badger about 3 months ago. Something had broken into the hedgehog café a few weeks before (I still put a few biscuits out during the winter) but I put it down to the foxes. But then I saw the badger.
"I've seen it 3 times since. It doesn't come every night, maybe 3 times over a 2 week period. I know it's been by the way the dishes are left.."
The area in question we know there are badgers and they compete with foxes for food but no real conflict between the two. Was this badger just wandering around on a forage for food or looking to expend territory into that area? We have no idea as many badger setts are known but there are householders who keep setts in their gardens secret -I learnt of a new one just yesterday and only because advice was asked for badgers digging under a path -likely for worms rather than sett building.
There are badgers in my area but I never saw any or any signs so I had a few doubts about what people told me. About 6 years ago I heard a loose drain cover out my the front door stepped on at 0200 hrs. Foxes and cats are too light to cause this but by the time I got outside (expecting to find an intruder -nothing.
The next night I heard the sound again but on looking out -nothing.
This was almost regular for a couple nights so when I heard it again I got up and rather than open the front door looked out through the side window. As my eyes adjusted to the light I could see a shape by the mini pond (partially obscured by a bush. I kept watching and knew it was not a fox so a cat? Something was wrong with that idea and then...it came into view and lifted its head smelling the air. It was a badger and at that time I had no trail cameras.
A little excited I decided that if I left the porch light on I could get a good photo when it turned up again/
Years later I have trail cams but never captured a badger on one. A badger visited a few nights and decided I was not worth visiting again!
Urban badgers are not quite as common as urban foxes but there is a big enough population and these populations may all that can survive once the cull has seen countryside populations unable to recover.
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