Evening Wildlife Watching Hide Update July 2025
- Harris Brooker
- Jul 28
- 3 min read
July is a time when a lot of animals are beginning to appear earlier in the night, especially in the latter part of the month. There has been plenty of sightings of Badgers, Pine Martens, Scottish Wildcat, Wood Mice, Bank Voles, Roe Deer, Red Deer and even Red Squirrels. We have heard Grasshopper Warbler and Tawny Owl with Barn Owl sometimes being seen in the fields below.
Badgers
The Badgers are still coming in every night, though usually a little bit later. On one such night, at around 21:30, a Badger ran through from the left-hand side of the platform. I saw it trot down the right-hand path and into the undergrowth. I soon realized it had passed through without stopping to eat anything. It had been raining heavily that night and its fur had matted, giving its guard hairs a distinct bristly appearance. Then an hour later, a male Badger appeared and as the night went on three more appeared and fed in front of the hide. Eventually, after having their fill, they moved off into the night.
Pine Martens
We are still seeing Pine Martens at the hide, both the male and female. One night at 22:30 the female came in and it fed for ten minutes in front of all the guests. At 22:45 it went away by running along the log bridge and then returned to feed and everyone got to see the female’s lack of spots on its bib and its brown semi collar, before it eventually moved off. On another night the male came in and fed and amazed the guests that were watching it. It showed really well, and the guests saw its triple spot pattern on its bib that is unique to this individual. Then after marking its territory, it moved off down the twin Lawson’s Cypresses and was gone.
Scottish Wildcat
We are still getting the Scottish Wildcat around. One night we had Pine Marten and Badger earlier in the evening and I was at the back windows of the hide looking for the Wildcat. Then around 22:50, I saw it a distance away from the hide in the dark and shone my torch on it. I got everyone else into the back of the hide, and we watched it stare at the ground as if stalking something, like a mouse or a vole. After a while it appeared to think that whatever it was looking at had gone away and it came towards us, with its eyes gleaming yellow in the torchlight. It then moved up another path in the garden and disappeared.
Other Wildlife
Wood Mice and Bank Voles still visit the hide and dash from the cracks in the walls to grab peanuts and disappear below ground again. There are also Roe Deer and Red Deer that have been seen in the fields below. One unusual creature for this setting we’ve had twice this month is the Red Squirrel. People often ask if we have them around and my answer is, mainly in the daytime. However, we’ve been surprised by Red Squirrel on two separate occasions while the night was still light. We’ve heard Grasshopper Warbler, but their reeling sound is so quiet that I must ask guests to put their ears closer to the microphone if they want to hear it. We’ve heard Tawny Owl and one night we had a Barn Owl hunting in the field, only visible as a white blur in the twilight, but still enough to cause excitement.
If you would like to visit our Evening Wildlife Watching Hide, go to: http://bit.ly/sw_EWW
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