Almost a year ago now, we built our badger sett and we are really starting to see some serious action in there! I had predicted it would be a year before we saw it used, so we have been incredibly lucky to have had visitors in there after just 6 months. This week, we had our first visitor who used one of the chambers for a whole day of sleeping. It was not a badger who took advantage of the shelter, however, it was a vixen! This vixen, who I think is quite young, has appeared at our otter holt as well this week.
I was delighted, on checking back on the icatcher system, that this vixen spent two days sleeping in the sett chamber. On one day, she was there about 6 hours and, the second occasion, about 4 hours. This daytime residency is a good sign for the future, I hope!
Amazingly, the badger also chose to sleep in the same chamber this week…. on different nights, I may add! There are two chambers in this sett, with slightly different camera angles and the badger has now slept in both. At present, they only seem to take a night time snooze for a few hours. It will be a major step forward when they choose to sleep the day here.
I mentioned that the vixen we had in the sett also appeared at our otter holt. She is recognisable by her tail, which is wide at the base and then very thin at the end. She spent several mornings and evenings having a bit of a dig around the very small otter holt entrance. I am amazed that she managed to get inside there as the entrance is only about 25cm high! This otter holt site is very quiet and, hence, she has been relaxed sitting outside there in broad daylight!
We had two otter visits this week as well… I think the otter can smell that the fox has been around!
As if this wasn’t enough excitement for one week, we also had the tawny visit the Kingfisher post several nights. This individual is just stunning and it is always a complete pleasure to watch it here!
The kingfisher took over for a stint during the day!
As I sat, working in the office, checking though all this exciting footage, a movement caught my eye. Right in front of me, I was able to watch a female sparrowhawk arrive at the badger sett , with prey! I watched it live before lifting the footage… just incredible!
Finally… as if we need more…. these two caught my eye… what a superb week of Yew View wildlife!
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