Birds, Bats and Badger fun at the Wildlife Hide

We have been keeping an eye on the action at our new wildlife evening hide, to give you fortnightly updates since we cannot welcome any visitors yet. There has been plenty of action over the course of May. As we have moved location there is much more bird life, and of course the Wood mice and Bank Vole have moved in underneath the platform, scurrying around under the Badgers feet to pick up peanuts.

As the garden birds now have young in nests, birds like the Blackbird, Chaffinch, and Great Spotted Woodpecker are taking advantage of the extra food being put out for the mammals. It does mean close-up views of these birds as well as listening to their evening chorus before they settle down for the night. A local Cuckoo has also been heard a few nights from the hide and Woodcock as the sun sets, roding overhead. Whilst watched Woodcock, Bats have emerged to feed on the flies amongst the trees.

We have been closely watching in hope of seeing any Badger cubs that should now be emerging and exploring their surroundings. A shy female Badger has been coming in early in the evenings and is extremely cautious of new smells. One of our night cameras confirmed that she is indeed feeding cubs somewhere, so we hope she brings her young to the hide soon. Badgers love to climb, dig, and explore so a few new logs and obstacles have been added to the feeding area to make searching for food a little more challenging. One of these is a heavy log with a hole in the centre, proving a bit tricky for the Badgers to get their head into. It has been amusing to see them determined to find the hidden peanuts and make them stay for longer viewing.

Our Pine Martens have been a little quieter, but the regular male teased the birds one evening when it followed a woodpecker up the trees before acrobatically jumping across the trees. Our night cameras have seen a few sightings, with these two in at the same time. Possibly two of last year’s young or a couple of adults that know each other. It is hard to tell just from this image, but it doesn’t seem to be young from this year.

We shall of course be keeping an eye over the next two weeks and return with an update. You can find our blog through the Speyside Wildlife website or follow us on social media for updates.