Jump to content

Show us your badgers...


Game Warden

Recommended Posts

Please include when and where taken, tech specs and any other pertinent details about the sighting. Thanks, Matt.

Link to comment
Share on other sites

  • 7 months later...

Quick, before they are all culled in the UK, someone go out and photograph them for me... alas my only sightings have been dead ones on the side of the road :(

Link to comment
Share on other sites

  • 2 months later...

Sorry, no UK badgers. But, here is a North American Badger from Yellowstone. I have only seen 1 badger there in 8 trips. I wouldn't have seen this one if it didn't run across the road in front of our car and pose for a couple pictures in the sage:

 

DSC_7950_edited-1-L.jpg

Link to comment
Share on other sites

  • 2 months later...

Here's a honey badger just outside of Lion Camp, South Luangwa NP 2011.

 

post-14659-0-55302500-1390766592_thumb.jpg

 

Link to comment
Share on other sites

See that rock squashing him? Honey badger just doesn't give a **** :)

Link to comment
Share on other sites

No pictures I'm afraid but my infra red trip camera caught some funny behaviour on the attached you tube links!

 

 

 

Link to comment
Share on other sites

@@philw There was a problem with the links for some reason so I edited the post and now the videos have embedded ok. Matt.

Link to comment
Share on other sites

  • 1 year later...

mothers-love-joshua-able.jpg

Link to comment
Share on other sites

  • 3 months later...

These are our local native wild Badgers in Northern Ireland. There is at least 8 at this sett. During the summer they were appearing out around 9pm giving me an hour of daylight in pretty gloomy conditions in the wood for a few photos.

 

 

17930057603_62803f568d_b.jpgBadger 5-6-151 by Philip Blair, on Flickr

 

18362924110_b08feedea3_b.jpgBadger 5-6-152 by Philip Blair, on Flickr

 

17902086234_ae3d884d30_b.jpgDSC_8224 by Philip Blair, on Flickr

 

18336882710_f8b591df3c_b.jpgDSC_8341 by Philip Blair, on Flickr

 

18362801190_3ddbcd01d1_b.jpgBadger 5-6-153 by Philip Blair, on Flickr

Link to comment
Share on other sites

Fantastic sighting - did they see you? They seem very relaxed.

Link to comment
Share on other sites

Fantastic sighting - did they see you? They seem very relaxed.

 

I was down wind lying under a holly bush and covered in camouflage gear so they didn't know i was there that evening and one of the young ones came that close that the 70-200 wouldn't focus. Other evenings they caught my scent and disappeared immediately. I had thrown a few peanuts out that encouraged them to stay around.

Link to comment
Share on other sites

~ @@phil_b

 

Having never seen any badger, anywhere in my 62 years, your terrific photos are a visual treasure.

They're one species who were never present in any zoo that I visited in my youth.

That they aren't exclusively solitary is news to me.

Thank you so much for posting these in Safaritalk for everyone to enjoy.

Northern Ireland wildlife is entirely fresh and unknown in my limited experience.

Great images!

Tom K.

Link to comment
Share on other sites

  • 1 month later...

I've seen American Badgers 3 times, all near the Panoche Valley in San Benito County in central California (I may have had a fourth sighting near Henry Coe SP, but the views were too poor to be sure). All sightings were at night though my very first one was superb, running along a fenceline in full view for something like 30-40 seconds barely 10 feet away (of course, I left my camera at home that day :rolleyes: ). Will try to go out and get a photo of one next week. Wish me luck! :)

 

I tried hard for a Honey Badger 2 years ago near Ndutu for a couple of days but came up empty. The most annoying thing was that it seemed like everyone at the lodge but me was seeing them, even on short after-breakfast drives.

Link to comment
Share on other sites

  • 3 weeks later...

@@Anomalure I hear that area is great for bobcat now...so feel free to snap a few pictures of them as well as the badgers while you're out there :) .

Link to comment
Share on other sites

  • 1 year later...
kittykat23uk

Badgers are quite difficult in Norfolk, but now we have a sett we can visit so hopefully i might be able to post more pics in the future.

 

34499628712_411c3c6c81_c.jpg

P5140031 Eurasian Badger by Jo Dale, on Flickr

 

34499627212_5359da4692_c.jpg

P5140018 Eurasian Badger by Jo Dale, on Flickr

 

34499626082_a3f220e5e9_c.jpg

P5140007 Eurasian Badger by Jo Dale, on Flickr

Link to comment
Share on other sites

kittykat23uk

Video of the above badger and friends!

 

Link to comment
Share on other sites

@@kittykat23uk

 

I love your badger pictures, the 2nd one especially. The white stripes are a wonderful contrast to the gloom of the background.

Link to comment
Share on other sites

  • 2 months later...
kittykat23uk
On 11/11/2015 at 6:52 AM, Tom Kellie said:

~ @@phil_b

 

Having never seen any badger, anywhere in my 62 years, your terrific photos are a visual treasure.

 

They're one species who were never present in any zoo that I visited in my youth.

 

That they aren't exclusively solitary is news to me.

 

Thank you so much for posting these in Safaritalk for everyone to enjoy.

 

Northern Ireland wildlife is entirely fresh and unknown in my limited experience.

 

Great images!

 

Tom K.

 

Get yourself to Wolong and spotlight along the road there. We had a few sightings of Hog Badger. 

 

Closer to home, our Norfolk Badgers were out and about last night :)

 

35969709242_7e10cbed64_c.jpgP7232132adj 2 Badger by Jo Dale, on Flickr

 

36098519576_607b30b006_c.jpgP7232095adj3 Badger by Jo Dale, on Flickr

 

35969725372_995fc32bd3_c.jpgP7232189adj (2) 3 Badger by Jo Dale, on Flickr

 

35969739802_ca8602b579_c.jpgP7232197adj (2) 3 copy Badger by Jo Dale, on Flickr

 

36140230535_637c9f7dd9_c.jpgP7232261adj (2) Badger by Jo Dale, on Flickr

 

Link to comment
Share on other sites

kittykat23uk
On 17/05/2017 at 0:34 PM, Zim Girl said:

@@kittykat23uk

 

I love your badger pictures, the 2nd one especially. The white stripes are a wonderful contrast to the gloom of the background.

 

Thank you! :)

Link to comment
Share on other sites

Dave Williams

I have only ever seen four live Badgers, two were seen in our garden and one one of the occasions , within three  or four metres at most. We were sat enjoying a glass of wine late one summer's evening and we heard a rustle in the bushes. the last thing we imagined to pop out was a Badger. 

This photo was taken last year about 100metres from our house down a country path. A friend told me he'd just seen it so i grabbed the camera and went to take a look. This young Badger was not well though, what was wrong I wouldn't know but I suspect it had been poisoned.

27230531812_d0c0451b5f_b.jpgBadger by Dave Williams, on Flickr

Link to comment
Share on other sites

kittykat23uk

Oh that's sad. :( were you able to get it to a vet or sanctuary?  

Link to comment
Share on other sites

  • 3 years later...

A good while ago now, when I was intending to add some shots to this topic, I decided I would also write some advice on badger watching, but then I never got around to posting it, in part because I wasn't sure about the whole situation with the badger cull and whether offering advice on badger watching, was a good idea in the circumstances. I don't know quite what the situation is in different parts of the country, I know that I am in a cull area, but I don't know what the situation is at the precise moment, I don't see much evidence of culling taking place. I know that no new licences for culling will be issued from next year and that they intend to phase out culling entirely by 2026, I don't want to say much more about the cull,. as this topic is not about the cull. I haven't been out badger watching in a while, besides the cull, as I am still using the same camera kit, I expected that if I revisited the same sett, and the badgers were still there, I would just get pretty similar photos. I do though know that there are still badgers around, as I have seen signs and I also have trail camera videos from 2019, I don't have videos from last year or this year, just because I haven't put the camera in places where there are likely to be badgers, but my impression is that there are still plenty around. I may having decided to add this post, go out and have a look for badgers, to see what is going on and whether it's worth trying to take some new photos. Whatever the situation with the cull is, I thought I would still add my advice, although judging by some of the shots already posted, perhaps I don't need to, but I hope it might still be of interest.  

 

My experience is entirely with watching badgers in the UK, however, the European badger Meles meles is found throughout mainland Europe outside of the Arctic Circle, in the north of its range as far east as the Volga River and in the south, across southern Central Asia to Afghanistan. In northern Central Asia, further East to the Pacific, it is replaced by the Asian badger Meles leucurus formerly they were considered to be one species, the Eurasian badger, which also included a third species, Meles anakuma found in Japan. Japanese badgers are much more solitary than the European and Asian species, that are both very social animals and very similar in their behaviour. I guess the following advice should apply to badgers found elsewhere in Europe, although I don’t think they live in such big groups in mainland Europe, as they do in the UK, why this should be, if it is the case I don’t know. 

 

If you don't have badgers visiting your garden and you want to see them, you could look online for somewhere that offers badger viewing, where you can book time in a hide overlooking a badger sett, if you don't want to do that and want to find your own badgers, the best thing to do, is go out and look for a badger sett, ideally you want to do this in summer, between May and August when the badgers are more active. At this time of year, they often emerge from their setts before dusk to start foraging, whereas in the winter they’re far less active and tend to only come out after dark. In the UK over 50% of badgers dig their setts in broadleaved woodland; otherwise, they favour hedgerows and open fields but you can also find setts in all manner of other locations like heathland, scrub, so called wasteland, under buildings, in old quarries and even tips, essentially anywhere close to or in good habitat for foraging.  

 

For badger watching woodland is really the ideal place, but you can’t just go walking around all the local woods, you’ll need to have permission from the landowner first. Then it’s a case of visiting a suitable wood in the daytime to look for a sett, badgers prefer where possible to dig their setts into the side of a bank, where the ground is dry and it’s therefore unlikely that the sett will flood in wet weather. They also like woodland that has pastureland close by, as earthworms form a major part of their diet, so pastures are a great place for badgers to forage.  A bank or of course a hillside is a good place to start looking, the first thing to search for, is obvious well-worn animal trails when you find one you can then follow it looking for holes. If you do find some holes, that look like they might be in use i.e., they’re not obstructed by sticks or other debris, suggesting that animals could be going in and out, how can you tell that they’re badger holes and not fox or rabbit holes? Badgers are prodigious diggers and shift a lot of earth they’re also very strong and powerful animals capable of kicking out quite big stones, so if there’s lots of spoil in front of the entrance and especially if the spoil has got good sized stones in it, you can be pretty certain it was dug by a badger. If there are several holes linked together by well-worn paths, that is another good indication that you’ve found a sett.

 

Of course, you don’t want to spend an hour or two waiting next to the wrong holes, you need to establish that the sett is active, if the spoil appears freshly dug then that’s a good sign, to establish if it is being used by badgers, the first obvious thing to do, is look for tracks. Badger pugmarks are very distinctive they have five quite elongated toes and long deep claw marks very different to those of cats, dogs or foxes which only have four toes and either no or much shorter claw marks. If you can’t find tracks, maybe because the ground isn’t soft enough, the next thing to look for is hairs, around the entrance to the hole, badger hairs like their tracks, are very distinctive and are banded in grey, black and white, the filament is also almost triangular in shape, rather than round, so if you are not sure, roll the hair between your fingers and you'd should feel that it is not round.  If you can’t spot any hairs, one trick you can try is to lick the palm of your hand and then press gently on the soil in the entrance of the hole, any loose hairs should stick to your hand. Another sign to look for, is old bedding near the holes; badgers take grass, leaves and other vegetation down into their sets to use as bedding and they frequently drag it back out and replace it, to avoid a build-up of parasites. Finding badger latrines is also a good sign; they like to dig a shallow hole before defecating into it, if you find any latrines near the sett, that would obviously suggest that it’s occupied.

 

36445508652_1e80e85f32_o.jpg 

Not the best example, sometimes when you find a pugmark, as in this case the claw marks are not visible

 

Once you’ve established that you have an active sett, you then need to find somewhere inconspicuous to sit, close by, maybe against a tree or a bank so that you’re not showing an obvious human outline. Somewhere comfortable, as you may have to wait for an hour or two, but that’s close enough to give you a good view, of one or more of the holes, without being too close. Badgers don’t have the best eyesight, so you don’t need a hide and you don't need to dress like an SAS trooper on a surveillance operation, you can wear camouflage clothing if you have it, but if you don't have any, drab dark clothing will suffice, ideally warm clothing as you may be sat for a while. It's a good idea to wear a hat to break up the outline of your head and make your face less conspicuous, you could also use a scarf to cover your face and perhaps gloves to hide your hands, obviously fingerless gloves if you are using a camera. If the weather’s not that great and you’re wearing waterproofs, try to make sure that they don’t make too much noise, when you move, the important thing, is to sit as still as you can and not make any sudden movements, as long as you move your camera or binoculars very slowly, you should get away with it. Badgers do have a good sense of smell, so ideally, if possible, you want to try and find a second sitting spot, somewhere the other side of the holes, in case you arrive for your vigil and find the wind is the wrong way, for your preferred spot. Once you’ve chosen your sitting spots, try to ensure that you can reach them without making too much noise, remove any dead sticks, that you might step on as you walk in and also anything that might make you uncomfortable when you’re sitting. If you are taking photos or filming, you might also want to bring some secateurs, to snip off any bits of vegetation that may obstruct your view.  

 

If your recce is successful, and you now know for sure that the sett is active, you can then return with your camera on a suitable evening, although you could perhaps do the recce in the morning and return the same evening, I think it is best to go back perhaps the next night, or even a few nights later, but you don't want to leave it too long, otherwise clearing away dead sticks etc, may have been a waste of time. Badger watching this way, is really a solo activity, if there are two of you, you might just get away with it, but your chances of success won't be nearly as good. When you do return walk quietly over to your chosen spot, arriving well before dusk, when the badgers should still be underground. Then provided the wind is good, just sit, wait and hope and if you’re lucky you should get good views.

 

I’m not going to offer too much technical advice on photography, as I don’t consider myself to be that great a photographer. I have chosen to shoot handheld, to give me more freedom of movement, as my 100-400 lens has image stabilisation, but you could use a tripod or a monopod, whether you want to use a tripod or not, might depend on the terrain. Being inside a wood between eight and nine in the evening, there isn't a huge amount of light, and since I didn't want to use flash and spook the badgers, I had to set a much higher than normal ISO, so the following photos were to a large degree the result of trial and error, setting the ISO high enough to get an acceptable, shutter speed but not so high as to produce too much noise. Once the action starts, you don't want be constantly changing settings between shots and then missing photos because you are fiddling with your camera or be moving unnecessarily, when a badger is right in front of you. Not wanting to set the ISO too high, the shutter speeds I was getting, were far slower than ideal for hand holding, although most of the shots I took were rubbish, I got enough shots that I consider acceptable and when the badgers were moving, I got some interesting effects, so I'm not too dissatisfied by the results of shooting handheld, perhaps with different settings, I would have got better results, if I go out again, I'll use a monopod and if successful, I might then think about using a tripod. Badgers absolutely love peanuts, so you could use peanuts to get the badgers to go where you want them to, in order to try and set up the perfect shot, however, only ever use a handful of nuts, don't start regularly feeding them. If you go out in late spring there is a chance that you may find some cubs and also there should still be bluebells in flower, so you may be able to get some great photos of badgers and bluebells.     

 

Finally, you will want to have a torch for when you leave, as by then it will be dark, (obviously do not shine it on the badgers), when you are ready to leave, try to do so when you can no longer see them, because they’ve gone back underground or wandered off foraging, and don't walk out along a badger path, then hopefully you won’t disturb them and they won't even know that you were there. I believe it is actually a criminal offence to disturb badgers at a sett, it is certainly an offence to interfere with a sett, that generally means digging into it, obviously you'd have no reason to do that, if you are careful and don't disturb them, you'll have an amazing wildlife experience. Having said it is illegal to interfere with a sett, I should perhaps say, that you should obviously be a little careful about sharing the location of your chosen sett.   

 

34688335594_2bda396201_o.jpg 

 

 

51229469434_7f81181314_o.jpg 

 

 

51230898966_60de047cc4_o.jpg 

 

 

51226386170_4c456a528d_o.jpg 

 

 

51226386110_af3c79ee20_o.jpg 

 

 

35504941696_8c42239398_o.jpg 

 

 

51234188524_d70aeabf59_o.jpg 

 

 

51235724718_a3787e07ac_o.jpg 

 

 

34784903614_44fa020e1c_o.jpg

 

 

35577745365_fedcd5c387_o.jpg 

Edited by inyathi
Link to comment
Share on other sites

I should say, that as always with wildlife there is no guarantee of success, those photos and the following photos were taken on two successful evening’s badger watching, the final photo was taken at a different sett, although successful in the sense that I saw a badger, I only got the one photo, the sett is not as good for photography. I have also staked out another sett and had no luck at all, I prepared my first post yesterday but decided before posting it, that I would go out for a wildlife walk and check-up on some of these setts as I’ve not done so in a good while, the sett where I had no luck, looks like it is active and I found hairs there, and the sett where I took most of the photos also looks like it is active and I also found hairs, it doesn’t seem like there is much culling going on. Although I suggested that after your recce you might want to return the next night or another night, I decided to have another go, at staking out the sett where I had, had no luck, as it is not as far away, but again I had no luck, obviously at this time of year it is still relatively light 21:30, after about an hour and a half of sitting, I decided I’d had enough, I’d got a bit too uncomfortable and it was getting a little cold, so I gave up. Whether if I’d stayed an extra 10 minutes, I would have seen something I don’t know, but I thought it wasn’t likely, also the wind seemed to be coming from different directions, so I may not always have been in the right position for the wind. Still, it wasn’t a wasted expedition as I saw several pairs of brown hares, though not close enough for good photos and a vixen with two cubs, but that is a subject for another thread.          

 

51242377129_d18f1c0353_o.jpg

 

 

34913245974_901630ccdf_o.jpg 

 

 

51245027096_e85e79cd9d_o.jpg

 

 

35502458052_7f91bb9052_o.jpg 

 

 

51237022462_d99585b349_o.jpg 

 

 

51240898185_87ec5815d5_o.jpg 

 

 

35203772920_a62a380852_o.jpg 

 

 

34913934873_2fb6759983_o.jpg 

 

 

34837057303_697cd61a3b_o.jpg 

 

 

 

 

51247081046_4e95072d1a_o.jpg 

This badger was at a different sett

 

Edited by inyathi
Link to comment
Share on other sites

Tom Kellie

~ @inyathi

 

Thank you for the care and resourcefulness in preparing these posts.

 

Having never observed a badger, the images were especially helpful.

 

        Tom K.

Link to comment
Share on other sites

Create an account or sign in to comment

You need to be a member in order to leave a comment

Create an account

Sign up for a new account in our community. It's easy!

Register a new account

Sign in

Already have an account? Sign in here.

Sign In Now
×
×
  • Create New...

Important Information

Safaritalk uses cookies to ensure you get the best experience on our website. By using Safaritalk you agree to our use of cookies. If you wish to refuse the setting of cookies you can change settings on your browser to clear and block cookies. However, by doing so, Safaritalk may not work properly and you may not be able to access all areas. If you are happy to accept cookies and haven't adjusted browser settings to refuse cookies, Safaritalk will issue cookies when you log on to our site. Please also take a moment to read the Terms and Conditions and Privacy Policy: Terms of Use l Privacy Policy