Quiet Weekend

I had to stay close to home this weekend, but nevertheless found myself wandering around Lowts wood on Saturday.

There are two very old, and very large badger setts at either end of the wood, and both appeared to be very active. I made a mental note to have an overnighter in these woods before the darker evenings set in. The wood isn’t easy to get to, so I would need a drop off and pick up. Nevertheless, a plan is forming!

I had lunch overlooking the western sett, which was pleasant enough when the sun came out, but there was still a chilly wind. As usual this year, I used the excellent mini-trangia to make a brew and cook up some bacon. I used an edible plate (tortilla) to wrap up the bacon. The tortilla is so flexible (literally). I haven’t gone on a trip this year without a packet.

It was nice to walk back along the woodland edge and I noticed that the farmer hadn’t planted right up to the edge, leaving a wide strip of land to be inhabited by nature. I think they get additional money for this from the government.

This week I’ve been playing about with my new toy, which I’ll tell you more about mid-week. It’s a trail-cam, which is activated by motion and has infra-red for night viewing. I’ve got some pretty good results already.

Today I retrieved the cam from Poor Park and reset it overlooking a mysterious looking hole leading to a culvert in a local field. I’ve never been able to work out 100% what uses the hole. I’ve seen both fox tracks and badger tracks around it, so it might be used by both. I’m going to leave the cam out for 3 or 4 days to see what’s going on.

Trying to set a motion activated camera with a Bichon bouncing about was a bit of a challenge! But it’s amazing what the threat of no sausages can do.