The Badger

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Badger: Broc: Melles Melles.

From the same family as the otter, stoat and pine martin, the much maligned badger is found in every Irish County but largest populations are in Kilkenny, Louth, Limerick, Meath, Offaly, Westmeath where grazing land is of good quality. Their favoured habitat is under cover of scrub, hedges and woodland, adjacent to grazing areas. Their burrowing marks made by their snout in quest of worms is to be seen frequently in the wood. They also eat beetles, slugs, snails, wasps nests, small mammals such as rats, mice and young rabbits as well as a variety of vegetable matter.

A Badger tunnels extensively underground with a network of set's surrounding the main one. it is a sociable creature living as a group and defending a territory. Although he is secretive, he can be seen late evening along a habitual pathway leaving a smooth shiny path which is seen here in Doon Wood running right of, parallel to gravel path. There are a number of active set's here and some now inactive, may, be used in the future. Their meticulous domestic cleanliness is evident in the discarded bedding grass which is replaced regularly and to be seen here, and, a central latrine for communal use (this is a another site). It is important not to disturb this site in any way.

In Summertime, the crowns of the trees form the canopy, their branches touching each other.

Beneath that, an understory grows consisting of smaller trees and large shrubs such as hazel and

holly. Lower still is the herb layer composed of herbaceous flowering plants and ferns. A fourth layer, the ground layer, consists of moss which likes moisture and shade, you will see it forming a soft carpet in tree stumps and as a cushion on the rocks beneath the trees. Flowering of the herb layer is concentrated in the months of April and May when the woodland here is carpeted with the white wood anemones and wood sorrel, (indicate an ancient wood) and the purple of the dog violet and Bluebell (heralds the summer), also the Primrose, its leaves still all over the floor and sometimes even flowering at Christmas, the early purple orchid and lords and ladies. When the canopy leaves shut off the light to the woodland floor only the clearings and verges will provide colour and the fungi which can grow in dark places will be seen in the woodland floor in autumn. In winter, it is too cold for the tree roots to obtain water for the leaves from the soil. The deciduous trees shed their leaves until the soil warms up again in Spring. The narrow conifer needles have fewer pores so less water is needed. Because different species require different habitats, the woodland birds live in harmony, nesting at different levels - pheasants on the ground, warblers at bramble height and rooks in the tree-tops.

By day,the butterflies fly around the tree and caterpillars feed on the leaves. At night, it is the turn of the moths and the beetles which are hunted by the bat and the secretive nocturnal animals which we seldom see all making the woodland at night a 'thriving community'.

[The Rabbit] [The Badger] [Ivy] [Honeysuckle] [Moss] [Common Oak] [Pedunculate Oak] [Lichens] [Common Lime] [The Hedgehog] [The Bramble] [The Chiffchaff] [The Frog Hopper] [Hawthorn] [Tree Roots] [The Wood Mouse] [The Pigmy Shrew] [The Sycamore] [The Guelder Rose] [The Ash] [Gorse] [Hazel] [Tootworth] [Goat Willow] [The Rowan]
[Common White Beam] [Spindle] [Dog Rose] [The Blackthorn] [Birds] [Grasshoppers & Crickets] [Dragonfly & Damesify] [Feral Goat] [Silver Birch] [Pine Martin] [Fungi] [Lough Carra] [Brown Trout] [The Mute Swan] [The Otter] [Limestone] [Holly] [The Fox] [The Mighty Oak] [Common Polypody] [Treecreeper] [The Irish Stoat] [The Hornbeam] [Bats]