Monday 18 March 2013

Den or Sett??

The other day we noticed some activity in the local woods. What appeared to be a large ferret was lifted from a box, taken out of sight and after a few minutes we heard a single gunshot.

Being of a curious (some might say nosey) disposition, we felt that after a suitable time had elapsed we should go and investigate.

What we found was quite a sizeable area of 'holes' with mounds of earth at their openings. The majority of the holes had been kicked in and roughly filled with earth and sticks. The holes were far too big to be a rabbit warren...
 

We also found this empty cartridge...

We are not clear whether this is a fox den or a badger sett. There was little evidence of footprints, other than those of the men who had been earlier. Nor were there any droppings or strands of hair to help us...

The only real 'clue' was the feeding stations nearby which may suggest someone was trying to protect their own quarry....

Any thoughts on the matter, please??


3 comments:

Tim said...

There is no old bedding piled anywhere in your pix.... usually near the entrances. I can't see any... points to fox, not brock.
If you felt that the holes were too big for a fox... think again... foxes have quite large entrances to their earths... and are happy to take over a badger's sett should they find an empty one... the claw mark looks incredibly fresh compared with the other paw prints... could be either fox, or more likely one of the dogs you mentioned.

Diane said...

OK so possibly fox but why the ferret? I would have thought that a fox may well zap a ferret! Diane

Jean said...

I was close to a fox recently and amazed how big it was.
In any case, whatever the animal is, I hope it met with a swift end and was not just wounded and left to die in agony.