All through early spring the badgers have been clearing their setts of bedding and hauling in new bales of thatch - in readiness for the cubs, who are born from December through to February / March.
I came across perfectly intact skull at a sett entrance while walking the land with Sue Clifford and Angela King (see earlier blog post about their visit...). Angela told me that if an adult badger dies in a sett chamber, the other badgers will close off this section and entomb the dead animal. Clearly from the skull, it is evident, that the body remained entombed until decomposition was complete. Only then was the body cast from the sett....
