Date: 12 August 2026
Location: Tilford
Duration: Approx. 3 hours
Habitat: Woodland
Species encountered: European Badger (Meles meles), Wood Mouse (Apodemus sylvaticus), European Robin (Erithacus rubecula), Nightjar (Caprimulgus europaeus

Field Notes

Yesterday evening I spent around three hours in a hide watching badgers. Peanuts, peanut butter and water had been put out in front of the hide to encourage the badgers into the viewing area.

At approximately 6:10 pm, the first badger appeared. It was quite early in the evening and it spent around 20 minutes moving around the area and foraging for the peanuts. It was lovely being able to watch it at such close range and see how it searched around for the food.

At around 7:00 pm, we all left the hide briefly to watch the solar eclipse. Unfortunately, it was quite difficult to see clearly in the sky, but I noticed something really interesting on the ground. The sunlight filtering through the trees was creating lots of little half-moon shapes. I believe these were images of the partially eclipsed Sun being projected through small gaps in the leaves, almost like lots of tiny pinhole cameras.

We then went back into the hide and waited for approximately another 20 minutes before a group of three badgers arrived. They were a joy to watch. One came through the gap into the viewing area, settled down and actually appeared to fall asleep for a few minutes before getting up and carrying on again. Being able to sit quietly and watch their natural behaviour for such a long period was a really nice experience.

There was other wildlife around too. A Wood Mouse (Apodemus sylvaticus) appeared and was also taking advantage of the peanuts, and a little Robin (Erithacus rubecula) was nearby. I also found what appeared to be a Common Buzzard (Buteo buteo) feather and later heard the distinctive call of a Nightjar (Caprimulgus europaeus).

It turned into a really interesting evening, with the badgers being the main focus but plenty of other things going on around us. The eclipse added something completely different to the experience, particularly seeing all of the crescent-shaped images appearing across the ground.

Photographs