The Badger Ways

It is cold, very cold, this mid-February. We are in the heart of winter. Everything had died-back and the animals that are active are struggling to find food and warmth. The badgers have a good strategy. They 'semi-hibernate' - staying in the warmth of the den when it is cold and living off the fat they put on during the summer and autumn. Then, on warmer days when the earth is soft enough to yield a few tasty worms, they venture out to snack. 

The die-back allows some of the regular badger paths to be more easily seen:  

here is one:

Here another - passing under barbed wire:

And caught on the wire a little tuft of wiry badger hair: 

Another path and another tuft of fluff:

And finally a strong signal of growing day lengths - some snowdrops.