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Probably of Celtic origin, the name 'Brock‘ refers to the animals grey colour. The bold white stripe from crown to nose may be a warning sign to other animals that the badger has a powerful bite - just as a wasp advertises its sting by way of yellow stripes! Present in almost every county of the British Isles, remains of badgers over 250,000 years old have been found. Being truly omnivorous the badger has a jaw and teeth powerful in the extreme. The jaw is attached to the skull in such a way as to make it impossible to dislocate without fracture. A distinctive ridge of bone running across the mid line of the skull is the anchor for the highly developed jaw muscles. The badger menu is a long one including young rabbits, slugs and snails, mice, voles, earth worms, beetles, wasp grubs, bees nests, plant roots and various wild fruits. Some years ago I had personal experience of brock‘s sweet tooth when I threw some windfall apples onto a bonfire in my garden at Foxhole. That night the scent of baked apples must have drifted to the nearby set as my night‘s sleep was punctuated with the squeals and yells of ecstatic badgers. An inspection in the morning revealed a huge hole under the garden fence and a totally levelled bonfire without an apple in sight! Being mainly nocturnal it is not often easy to watch badgers but it can be fun looking for signs of their night-time foraging activities. When hunting worms and leather-jackets several square metres of turf at a time may be torn up. If individual tasty items are being scented out you may find 'snuffle holes‘ where brock has forced in his snout. Badgers follow favourite routes and if you find a worn, narrow path running under a low obstacle, like a stile or a fence, you can be sure its a badger run. Look for hairs caught in the wire or brambles. Like other mustelids the badger has powerful anal muscle glands that impregnate the animals dung with its own particular scent. This is usually deposited in specially dug pits and groups of these then form a territorial marker. Although not everyone‘s idea of fun, probing these latrines can be a good indicator of the animals diet! Sloppy droppings in spring and winter suggest a high proportion of worms, late summer dung like Weetabix results from eating wheat, after that, in autumn, pips and black staining indicates lots of blackberries. The badgers underground home, its set, can be a huge complex of tunnels and sleeping chambers often used by successive generations.
Remember, although now protected, the badger has a history of cruel persecution by man. If you go badger watching do not disturb the animals and if in the Country Park inform the Rangers first. Written and drawn by Dick Mash, 1987. |
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A
combination of grassland and scrub on a dry, easily dug, chalky
soil, makes the Country Park good badger habitat.
A
member of the family Mustelidae, which includes Otters and polecats,
the badger is a large animal averaging nearly 30 lbs in weight.
Tracks in soft ground are consequently often clear and show the
distinctive arrangement of the toes and the long sharp claws essential
for digging.
