He seemed, by all accounts, to be such an important personage...

Just yesterday I had the most exciting find. What I thought was the remains of some kind of bug, which was a brownish, seemingly hollow, husk: at one end there was a tiny bit of white poking out and so I gently pulled on that and managed to extract what looked exactly like an exoskeleton, but had several bright red, metallic spots, almost like glitter! 

I would love to be able to share the photographs I took at the time; but as it was just a dream, will be unable to! 

"Dreamer, you stupid little dreamer"

Enough of this ridiculous preamble! 'Less dreaming, more doing' - isn't that what they say?

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ERM, YOU'RE NOT BY ANY CHANCE VIEWING THIS IN YOUR EMAIL ARE YOU?

You are!

No, you need to view the web version, or you will miss the videos in this update: just click on 'JJ's Photoblog' at the top of the email, or even the actual blog update title, both will get you here.

We all know that insects have what's called an 'exoskeleton' don't we. We don't! Okay, well here's an explanation for anyone who's in doubt: An exoskeleton is the external skeleton that supports and protects an animal's body, in contrast to the internal skeleton (endoskeleton) of, for example, a human. The only way insects can grow is by periodically shedding the exoskeleton.

I recently spotted a large aphid doing just that (I know, my life is so exciting) and captured a picture as it began the process...

Have you ever heard this old saying?

Top man David: and the only person I can think of with the middle name; Takayoshi !

It's true though, look at this example I spotted recently...

 A dead wasp provides shelter for a 'Billy Baker' (Woodlouse).

Anybody of a certain age will know exactly what this image represents...

Yes!

Right about here...

I decided to set up my trail camera. I had located a badger's sett that looked as if it might be in use: I'd actually been watching another sett close-by, but that one seems vacant now. This one however had recent scratch marks where they might have been digging, and a strong musky smell! 

On the night of November 5th, I set the camera up at dusk and hoped for the best. By the way, take no notice of the date and time on these videos, I didn't set the clock... 

(If you are viewing on your phone, you may need to rotate)

I think this is a big male badger judging by the shape of the head, pale tail, and overall size. I am calling him 'BigSpot' because of that strange pale spot on his body. 

That pale area (he also has a less obvious one on the opposite side) leads me to believe that this might well be a Leucistic badger. Leucistic badgers suffer partial loss of pigment which results in light coloured patches, and even in some cases, whole areas that are paler.

This next video, although not that interesting in itself, does show just how big and bulky this individual is...

Of course, he will be at his heaviest at this time of year as he gears up for winter. Badgers feed on snails, slugs, soft fruit and worms: up to 200 worms per night in fact! It has been recorded that if food is in scarce supply, they will also take hedgehogs. Now that's gotta stick in yer teeth huh? 

To find and film one badger was pure joy, and so when I reviewed this next video, imagine how excited I was...

It can be very tricky to tell male from female badger, even the experts have been caught out. But I think this may be a female following BigSpot out of the entrance. Either that or a younger male maybe?

I'm including this final video (although I have many more I could share) because it does show just how fast BigSpot can be when spooked: watch closely at the very end of this clip...

Badgers can run short distances at around 16-19 miles per hour. They have quite good hearing but their eyesight is not so great. Naturalists universally agree that badgers have an acute sense of smell, pretty good hearing and rather poor vision. However, this view is based almost entirely on anecdotal evidence: very few experiments have been conducted to investigate the nature and limits of the badger’s sensory world.

It is thought that they have small eyes because they are 'semi-fossorial', spending most of their time underground where no light penetrates. Even large eyes are not much use in the pitch black.

And so that was my very first filming of badgers at night. I hope to improve the lighting next time, as the camera seems to suffer from unwanted brightness (By the way, that is his tail in the animation above!).

Oh! One last image to share: what could this be the camera (almost) captured?

A stoat or weazle perhaps? Rat? Rabbit? Any ideas welcome.

Look after yourselves during this pandemic; I can't afford to lose any viewers!