I have been watching badgers for about 23 years but what happened tonight will be etched in my memory for a long time. Just one of those magical moments.
I started going back to a sett I have not watched at for 20 years a few weeks ago just to see what was happening; the sett was disturbed by a landowner many years ago before the 1992 Act became available to use.
I was dipping badly; no sign of the Badgers which I had been seeing regularly over recent visits; just one previous dip; 2 nice Red Foxes was all I was seeing. Then a BADGER came out and promptly went back in after 15 seconds as a light aircraft went over. I put my notebook away and as it was quite dark decided it was time to leave. Then out of the corner of my eye I saw some movement about 30 yards from where I was sat; unable to see what it was, young rabbits have been frequenting that part of the sett recently. I slowly stood up and there was an adult POLECAT walking towards me over the sett; it carried on walking and got within 10 yards of me and slowly went down a disused hole and that was that.
Having been slighly stressed at the possibility of missing the College Lake animals and a UK mammal tick ( I was in the US when the news broke ) it has given me so much pleasure to find my own animal.
This was just about the only night I did not take my video camera with me.
Mike Collard, www.badgertrust.org.uk