Mighty load of bedding being brought into sett. 30-June-2025

I must admit to be unsure of how many badgers occupy this area, and how many sett entrances are in use or if chambers are connected.

I have seen badgers enter the sett area from the footpath, and turn left immediately. They avoid the 'main' sett entrance i.e. the entrance I have three trail cams pointing to. I even have videos of badgers taking bedding past the main sett entrance.

I do know there are 'upper' sett entrances, i.e. sett entrances slightly uphill from the main sett, but having scouted them once (they are not easy to get to) I concluded they were not being used.

I think this was a silly assumption.

A couple of weeks back, my side trail cam got videos of a badger bringing in truly prodigious amounts of bedding. I have other videos showing Scrawny tail bringing bedding into the main sett, but not on the scale of this badger.

The badger makes it look easy, backing around the slender tree trunks. It isn't easy for a human adult.

As I said, I had taken a peek at the sett entrances on the other side of the tree trunks some weeks back, but took a closer look after this badger's exertions. Sure enough, the badger had dragged the bedding into a sett entrance - the very same one that looked unused some weeks back.

Getting a trail cam onto this sett entrance is going to be tricky. Firstly the terrain. It is awkward. There is a dip in front of the entrance, and the dip is full of tree branches from earlier bouts of coppicing. Secondly, the area is somewhat visible from the footpath.

However, now that vegetation has grown up a bit, particularly some ferns, I might have a better chance of putting a trail cam on to this sett. Only I am running out of trail cams. I'll have to use one of my old Apeman trail cams.

Apeman video and photo quality is rubbish - very grainy, but they are surprisingly reliable. They have chugged on when others (e.g. GardePro) have failed. I'll try putting an Apeman out this Saturday - but first I need a little running repair on a post/support I made out of an old tree branch. At least it will disguise the trail cam a bit from prying eyes of nefarious sorts walking along the footpath who may decide to nick the trial cam.