Been Badgerwatching

[midnightfox]

Just got back from Badgerwatching. It was great! Went at about 8:30 because it is usually still rather light at that time though tonight it was already quite dark because of all the threatening rain clouds. Went slipping and sliding through the bluebell woods, squelched through the badly sited mini-marsh and when we reached the seat it was extremly slippery,wet and unpleasant because of all the rain we've been having. Sat there for a while as the rain dripped through the canopy of the wood and songbirds scolded a tawny owl. The big boar emerged from the main hole,sniffed around and trotted of the way he always goes,every single night(at least when we're watching him!). The afore mentioned tawny hooted once,twice. A bat/bats that seem to come to this clearing every night came flitting round,darting,skimming, sometimes flashing so close we could have reached out and touched them. It's always spectacular to watch bats in flight.
Then a nose poked from another hole and one of the two sows came out-followed by...a cub! We've seem glimpses of this early cub before but never so close or for so long. We watched him grub around for insects for a minute. The other sow poked her head out and then went back in. Suddenly a banging sounded away in the distance and the badger cub ran inside the main hole. He came out again briefly but one of the sows(presumably his mother) made an odd grunting-clicking wuggckghh(sorry can't really describe it). I think it was an alarm call.
The fine rain barely noticeable had by now come on with a vengeance and it was raining in earnest.
We waited ten more minutes but the badgers didn't come out again so we left.
Now I was wondering if anyone would know the answer to this puzzle:
It is very early for a cub to be out. This cub is largish(about 1/3 adult size pos a little smaller) so it is unlikely to be a yearling which are usually around the same size as adults or about 2/3 their size. I think possibly this cub could simply be the only cub born and therefore be larger than is usual at this time of year because it has more food than if it had siblings. Any ideas?

[Words]

Must have been absolutely captivating to see the family of badgers like that. Plus the added bonus of owls and bats.

I've no idea about badger cubs at all (I'm sure others here can help out), but the food theory for a larger than average cub sounds plausible to me. The grunt of warning sounds similar to what vixens do when they want to hurry fox cubs back to the earth.

Thanks for such a great description.

[rlchew]

What a fantastic account of your evening's wildlife watching .... you are very lucky.

I am sorry but I can not answer your puzzle either.

Richard

[midnightfox]

I love watching wildlife, they’re so beautiful and you can see something unexpected when you're watching something else; my father was once watching the badgers with a friend and an extremely frightened fox bolted out of the main hole!
Your probably right Words, thanks
I am extremely lucky to live where I do, especially as I used to live in a very nasty town near Manchester!