On a surprisingly dry and sunny 15 November, 11 people turned up to join the Mammal Group's Badgers, Tracks and Signs walk. And what a walk it was!

Thankfully, it was one of those few days where the rain did not pour down and we were able to explore the wilds of Whitbarrow in the dry. The walk was led by Ian and Philippa McMurdo who both expertly pointed out the wide variety of tracks and signs left by foxes, deer, rabbits and, last but not least, badgers.  We also learnt a lot from looking at the number of interesting finds that Ian and Philippa had collected over the years, including pelts, skulls and antlers.

Whilst we were walking, we were encouraged to keep our eyes on the ground and on the lower branches of trees and shrubs so that we could begin to identify key features for ourselves. So, what did we find? 

Well, lots of poo, nibbled tree trunks, signs of burrowing, feathers that had been chewed at the ends and…badger sick.  Badgers are very partial to eating juicy red juniper berries, but in such quantities that are not too good for their bellies.  So the end result is a big splodge of juniper berries!  It looked very similar to the poo of brown bears that my husband and I saw whilst on holiday in Canada.  What do you think?

Badger sick	Bear poo

As well as looking for signs of mammals, Ian and Phillipa also took us to the oldest and largest juniper bush in Cumbria. As you can see from the photo below, it's pretty impressive.

This is the second Mammal Group walk that my husband and I have joined in the last few months.  We have really enjoyed being guided by experts who obviously enjoy sharing their knowledge with others.  So we are really keen to go out again with them in the spring and see what else we can learn about our native mammals.

The Mammal Group was founded in 1992 and is currently sits within Cumbria Wildlife Trust. It meets regularly at one of the Trust's offices around Cumbria. We aim to protect the mammals of Cumbria by promoting conservation and recording. New members are always welcome and so if you are interested in anything to do with mammals and getting involved please contact us on This e-mail address is being protected from spam bots, you need JavaScript enabled to view it