Badger Sett

[Eazyglider]

Hi,

I've been watching a badger sett close to home for most of the summer when they were emerging initially around 8.30 pm but then as daylight faded earlier they began to emerge earlier up to around 7.00 pm. Recently, I've sat watching the sett, arriving about an hour before I expect them to emerge to give me time to put out some peanuts and sultanas and get settled downwind of the sett, they've not emerged before I've had to leave because it's pitch black and I wouldn't see them if they were sat next to me!!! There's still activity at the sett overnight (mostly excavations) and the peanuts & sultanas I leave out are gone by morning so they're still active.

With the drop in evening temperatures and the longer hours of darkness is it usual for them to emerge when it's darker than during the summer when darkness doesn't last so long? I would expect natural food would be harder to find during cooler nights and so they would need to forage for longer.

Don't think it's my bushcraft as I watched them quite often during the summer evenings.

I've been trying to photograph them using available light, I don't want to use flash which I think would disturb them too much. Of course if they don't emerge whilst there's still a little daylight left then photography is out of the question.

Anyone else found this?

Eazyglider

[Dogghound]

Activity generally decreases with decreasing nighttime temperatures. Where in Britain are you? as latitude and altitude obviously have an impact on this timing. We are currently in the transitional stage between badgers being most active (late summer early autumn) to badgers being least active late autumn early winter). The body weights will be around their peak at the moment prior to winter and food is in abundance such as fruits, earthworms (damp warm soil) and small mammals (peak before winter). Badgers are often emerge after dusk but can often continue foraging after dawn, so it may be worth looking in the morning.

Reasons could be that they are getting enough food so foraging less, are starting to lower activity levels due to temperatures or alternatively levels of disturbance have increased at the site making them more shy.

[Eazyglider]

Hi Dogghound,

Thanks for the info. I'm on the south western edge of the Vale of York so probably not too far from you. Don't think they're disturbed as they're on a farm well away from any public road or footpath access.

Perhaps they could be disturbed by the increase in farming activity with the harvest and autumn cultivation/planting season though the nearest field to them was vining peas and they appeared as expected the evening after the viners had finished and also after the cultivation and planting in the same field? All field work close to them is now finished so I'll try again, perhaps over the weekend, and I might give early morning a try which I've never done before due to concern about approaching the sett when the badgers might be up and active.

Thanks very much for the advice.

Kind regards,

Eazyglider

[JeffH]

Hi Eazyglider and welcome to WAB

We've had Badgers visiting our garden every night for nearly two years now and there has been a noticeable change in feeding/foraging behaviour as the seasons change.

During the summer they usually make a single group visit at between 11 and 11.30pm.

However, as the dark nights draw in our local Badgers visit earlier - they're currently making their first visit (usually as a group of 3 - 5) at between 7 and 7.30pm. But we then get a steady stream of further visits by individual Badgers throughout the night - we have an infra red CCTV camera set up and so can monitor their visits quite easily and from the comfort of the house

It's my understanding that during the longer dark nights Badgers often make several feeding forays, returning to their setts for a nap in between - much like my own night time activities

Finally a word of caution - if you're feeding/photographing Badgers at or near their sett do please be careful to avoid any disturbance. As this thread shows - Be careful at Badger Setts - it can get you into trouble

Hope that helps

Jeff
(Schedule 1 Licence holder for Kingfishers, Barn Owls and Avocets)

[Eazyglider]

Thanks JeffH for the info. What a horrible position for Fudgey to be in. I guess that's me finished watching our badgers for fear of ending up in a similar position to Fudgey.

Kind regards,

Eazyglider