A tasty treat

Following the theft of my trail camera in November I have been forced to call to a close my long-term monitoring project on the birds and mammals using a hedgerow. Although this has saddened me, I was hoping to amass 5 years of data, 3 and a half will have to do.

I now have a new camera with greater security and stronger fixings/locks and a new more discreet location to use. I have decided in this case I will still operate on an ongoing 24/7 basis recording where possible but this time I will bait the camera to see what species are attracted. This is something I have been wanting to do for awhile but would have skewed the data with the old survey.

I started running the project over New Year and have already started getting footage of Wood Mice, Brown Rats, Foxes, Grey Squirrels and Badgers. My first bait attempt was two Ham Bones bought from the supermarket designed for dogs.

Magpie picking at the bone

Brown Rat passing by

A Wood Mouse on the bone, tiny compared to the rat!

The most interested in the bones were the Magpies that spent a lot of time picking at them. Interestingly Wood Mice and Grey Squirrels were both recorded feeding on them.

Unusually the Foxes seemed interested but didn't partake this was due to their unfamiliarity of the setup. They are clever creatures and were well aware of the camera and were spooked enough by its presence to avoid it.

Lastly and most excitingly are the Badgers and boy are they showing evidence of behaviour, first of all, they solved the problem of continually visiting the bone - just take it with you.

Secondly, I manage to get two 10 sec clips which have been put together to show a badger foraging. You can see how it snuffles through the leaf litter using its powerful sense of smell to root out food. Given the large amount of rain and the nearby flooding it's no surprise that worms were abundant, The clip shows that the badger gets the scent of the worm and then dives in. The earthworm makes a bid for freedom trying to burrow away however once the worm is in the badger's jaws it expertly pulls it out and devours it.