9 December 2013

No action was recorded at all at the main entrance. A very stinky fox visited this end of the woods and left his calling cards in a prominent place on a path. We've seen fox cubs in the headlights, footprints in the snow, smelt him, but never seen him nor recorded him on camera. I left a camera on what is now a badger sett for a long time (months) to see if he ever visited, but he never did. Perhaps he is unhappy with recent developments.

This time the badgers found the furthest away food dish and, happily, went on exploring a good 10m or so past it -- judging by nose marks left in the ground, right at the start of the path that runs along the bank at the edge of the wood. This is the furthest they've been from the sett as far as I know, about 100m, and very much the best direction for them, away from the road. They may have gone even further without leaving any visible sign, of course. They spent an hour and a half beyond the camera I had monitoring their main dish. This time both of them ate from this, though not together.

There's a chance they may have exited to the field at the nearest corner, which is quite overgrown. One badger returned home the long way going past the camera by the main feeding station, en route home for the day, apparently without having passed the camera going in the other direction. Previous comings and goings were all paired. It's also possible that the camera's infra-red detector didn't fire. They're far from infallible.

Time above ground: 19:41 to 3:33.