Calling badger experts - advice needed

[Badger Watching Man]

Hi everyone - I need to pick your brains about the eating habits of some badgers I am watching.

I visited the sett yesterday, and I found that a young sycamore tree nearby had been stripped of its bark up to a height of about 3 feet. The bark seems to have been eaten, as there were only a few shreds left on the ground. The tree is right next to the sett and the damage was too high and too extensive for rabbits.



I read up about this, and Neal and Cheeseman say that badgers will occasionally eat sycamore bark in early spring. I assume that it is sugary, like maple syrup (sort of). But we're in June now, not early spring.

Has anyone seen this before? The reason I ask is that I'm worried it may be some sort of last resort food that the badgers are using because the dry spell has made it difficult to find any other, and this in turn could mean that they're in trouble. If it is a common food source then I'll relax a little.

Any advice/information would be welcomed,

Thanks

BWM

[Maverick47]

Hi BWM
It's a mystery to me also but you may have hit the nail on the head, with the lengthy dry spell that we've had, I suppose it's possible that they may have hit the bottom of the barrel food wise.

So it could a case of eating anything edible?

You could always chuck some peanuts down for a couple of nights?

[Badger Watching Man]

Yeah, it's a dilemma. I'd rather not feed these badgers because I want to be able to observe their natural behaviour. I want to keep them as wild as possible.

On the other hand, I don't want to stand back if they're starving. I don't think they will be at this stage yet, but I've never seen this bark-eating before, so I don't know if it's a bad sign or not.

The weather forecast is for rain soon, so hopefully that will get the worms out again and resolve things for the badgers in the short term.

[scott tilley]

Hi, I hope your badgers are ok, I regularly watch and photograph a sett in the Newark area. We have also had little rain recently and their are at least three new youngsters at my site. To set your mind at rest I think badgers are pretty versatile where food is concerned and will eat whatever is available at the time. If you manage to suss out a latrine site you should be able to get a good idea of what they are eating.

Happy watching.

Scott

[flower_girl]

"To set your mind at rest I think badgers are pretty versatile where food is concerned and will eat whatever is available at the time. If you manage to suss out a latrine site you should be able to get a good idea of what they are eating."

For my undergrad project I spent many an hour going through Badger poo to see what had been eaten. You would be amazed at the variety of their diet. What they ate in winter certainly differed greatly from the summer months. If it's remotely edible, a badger will eat it!!

[Badger Watching Man]

Thanks for the advice everyone. I'll keep an eye out and see what happens.

And flower girl - it sounds like a fascinating project, but remind me not to shake hands if we ever meet...

Seriously though, it does sound interesting. I'd like to try something similar one day.