Badgers

Wildlife Wednesdays #23

So... what kind of wildlife has Brighton got going for it? Top of my list has to be badgers - there is a healthy badger population in the surrounding countryside and in the city itself. Being shy and mostly nocturnal, I might not get any good photo opportunities, so here's a picture instead.

Badger footprints are one of the most distinctive animal tracks in the UK - look for the broad heel pad, with four toes in front and one a little to the side - almost like a pudgy human hand - and the big claw points some distance ahead of each toe.

There are plenty more kinds of wildlife that I am looking forward to encountering now that I'm down here - dormice and crayfish and Lewes's burgeoning marsh frog population, and hopefully grass snakes.

Squirrel Attack!

Nice little mushroom, minding its own business on the edge of a spruce wood.

Nice little squirrel, minding its own business on the edge of a spruce wood.

Time to move!

Where are you going?

What's that over there?

mmmm.... noms!

rawr!

The squirrel got paranoid about the camera clicking exactly when it bit into the mushroom - it ran away leaving only a few tooth marks. 

Shame - I really wanted to see how it was going to deal with a prey item that is clearly bigger than its head... even with the ear-tufts.