The action has kept going at Speyside Wildlife’s Evening Wildlife Watching Hide.
January might be a quieter time of year for visitors, but the Badgers are still visiting with enthusiasm, as are the Wood Mice and Pine Martens. Recently when I was baiting the hide, the female Pine Marten decided to arrive at the same time! I am used to this happening with the Badgers but for the Pine Marten this was the first time, so I quietly retreated inside to let her feed.
The male Pine Marten came in one night not from his usual angle - normally I would expect him to come up from below a pair of Lawson’s Cypresses and walk along the log bridge to the platform. On this occasion however, he came from below the edge of the big platform where the Badgers feed and made his way over to the little platform. Then he crossed over the log bridge to another small platform which is rarely used and went up to the bird feeders and quite unusually came down onto the ground - normally the Pine Martens avoid doing this because that is where the Badgers feed and they are wary of them. It finally went over the edge of the platform and disappeared.
It has been snowing vigorously too. Badgers are generally less active in the winter time, they sleep more and spend more time indoors. But the Badgers seem to cope fine with the cold otherwise.
One Badger made a growling noise that the speakers picked up that I'd never heard before, like a sputtering engine, which the Badger used to argue with another one of its family members. They also scared away the Pine Marten.
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