I've been keeping an eye on a mystery 'bed' that I've found on my outings. This bed looks much like a bird nest, only it's 10 times the size of most bird nests and is made entirely of ferns. Every visit, the bed was getting larger and larger and it started to look more like a nest shape with a clear dimple in the middle. The odd thing about this is, it was inside a water tube which is 1 and a half metres in diameter and around 11 ft long.. It doesn't look like the ideal place for any species to nest in as it's completely exposed either end. I had to find out what on earth it was and I had suspicion of a Fox or Badger. I even considered Rabbits and even Pheasants but the only way to find out was to put a camera out.. 

As you can see, the bed was certainly getting larger and the amount of ferns being used was pretty impression. I couldn't see any hair inside so really wasn't sure at this point. Anyways, I won't keep you waiting any longer!

It was in fact, a Badger! 

I haven't uploaded the video footage yet but big thanks to Ian Howells who has lent me a trail camera to get this footage. Ian has been a really big help and contributor to the Winter Feeding Project too and I really appreciate all he has done. I'll post up the video footage once I've gathered enough evidence but so far it's looking pretty clear that this Badger, for whatever reason has decided to build this nest. It may be a young badger that hasn't matured yet and is practising for the real thing. It could be that it has been kicked out of the set and is looking for a new home. If could even be with all the rain we've been having that the set is flooded and they've been forced to look for alternatives. Either way, it doesn't look like a safe place to give birth so the future of this individual doesn't look good. Safe to say I'll be keeping an eye on him/her for a while.