Another visit to the badger sett...

This update contains videos that may not appear in the email version.

There is a link HERE to the online version where all will be revealed!

I've got a couple of updates to my blog on the way, starting with this one which concentrates on another visit to the local badger sett. 

I have to confess right at the outset that the following videos are at best mixed quality. I don't have the best quality trail camera in the world. In fact it isn't even the best trail camera I have...and I only have one! I've also cropped some for a closer look, which  degrades the quality further.

Here we go then: I was quite pleased to find that the first little videos were of images captured whilst it was still fairly light...

What struck me about the large amount of footage recorded, was just how much time badgers spend scratching and grooming...

The most prolonged bouts of grooming tend to occur shortly after emergence from the sett. As well as grooming themselves, they also groom other clan members; a behaviour known as 'allo-grooming'. Grooming plays an important role in overall badger health.

When badgers groom themselves, they tend to do so sitting down or laying on one side or the other, particularly to groom that side. While self-grooming a badger will focus on the stomach, legs, tail and face. Attempts are made to groom parts of the rump, back and shoulders, but badgers are limited in their degree of contortion such that some areas are physically out of reach. Fortunately, these are precisely the areas that are covered during allo-grooming session. (Text courtesy of 'Wildlife Online'.

Not all of the time is spent on scratching and grooming: there's time for play too. I wondered if at least one of these is a fast-growing cub?

I'm not sure either what is happening in this next clip; (I wish I knew more about these fascinating mammals) it looks like it has its hackles up? It did make me smile though, the way it almost fell over when trying to scratch.

At least one of the adult animals seemed to take some interest in the night-vision camera...

I definitely need to hone my video editing skills, which are pretty much non-existent at this point, but I hope despite the quality issues that you found something of interest. I loved observing their behaviour and now that I've bitten the bullet and bought myself some (basic) video-editing software, perhaps I will be able to make a better job of presentation next time.