Curious Brock

Badgers will not pick a fight with another animal. But if they do end up in one, they will fight until they no longer can.

I sit at a wooden table with an old-fashioned-looking oil lamp (powered by a lightbulb) next to me. Storm Eowyn arrived during the night. I am no man!

It feels like I am in a zone from World of Warcraft. Kul Tiras comes to mind. It always does whenever I leave the city and go into the hills.

This escape for a long weekend (for Graham’s birthday) has pushed my brain to write. Hearing the wind howl outside and watching small birds and red squirrels resiliently come to the feeders to eat despite the storm, made me think of all the other wildlife out there. Wildlife doesn’t receive the same red-weather warning as we do. They still have to find food and survive.

I watched the three red squirrels that call this area home come down regularly to the peanut feeder. Holding onto it with their little paws, anything to make it stop moving from side to side to feast on the vital food within. A male pheasant screeched his arrival to the feeders, his handsome red head appearing over the small hill at the burn as he got his fill. I heard a buzzard cawing outside like she was yelling at the wind to stop.

With all my thoughts being about wildlife during the storm, my mind wandered to the badger. What were they doing? Were they coping okay?

The European badger is black, white, brown and grey. They have a small head with black eyes, rounded ears, and a short tail, and they are hardy little creatures. A few years ago, I visited an evening wildlife hide in the Cairngorms National Park and watched a family of badgers feast on peanuts and peanut butter. The guides even had microphones hidden around the area to play the cute sounds of their eating into the hide.

One of the guides was sharing facts about badgers, and I always remember one thing he said about them:

Badgers will not pick a fight with another animal. But if they do end up in one, they will fight until they no longer can.

Last year, one night in the summer, I went out into the garden to collect my trail camera. I have had a camera in the garden for a few years, hoping to see what wildlife visits. The weekly routine of collecting the camera and then uploading the videos to my laptop had come. Over 400 videos recorded…

I saw the usual suspects: red foxes (5 individuals), grey squirrels (who enjoy pushing the camera over), blackbirds, robins, dunnocks, and the cheeky cats belonging to the neighbours coming in to ask for treats.

I have gotten used to flicking through the videos and being quick to scan for any animal. I passed by one video thinking it was a cat, but something made me go back to look again. I looked closer at the furry body that had walked by the camera. Stocky body, round black eyes, rounded ears - it can’t be a badger, can it?

I must’ve replayed the video about 10 times, over and over again at different speeds. Slowing down, pausing, and going frame by frame.

It was a badger! In my garden! In Glasgow!

Never in my life did I think it would be possible to see a badger in my garden in Glasgow. I always thought badgers lived and made their setts in woodland areas in the countryside.

The video went on my family group chat. My dad was especially pleased to see a little badger visiting. He couldn’t believe it either.

I quickly delved through the other videos on the camera and ran back outside to leave it again with the hopes of seeing more of the badger.

And see her I did.

The badger visited several times during the summer. I showed the footage to a conservationist, who told me it was a female badger because of its slimmer face.

So she had to have a name.

I called her Bailey.

I reported my sighting to Scottish Badgers.

And I even went out and bought her a jar of peanut butter.

I have not caught any footage of Bailey on my trail camera since the end of October. But that’s okay. I know she moved on to prepare for winter and may even have found herself a mate and a sett to hunker down in and have cubs. But I do still hope to see her again one day.

You never know who you may see visiting your garden. I am so glad I have a trail camera to see all the animals who choose to visit. And I’ll be honest: Bailey is my favourite visitor, even if I did think she was the neighbour’s cat at first!

Have you got a trail camera in your garden?

Take care,
Rebecca