In his latest column, MIKE BAGSHAW, an outdoor education teacher and travel and nature writer, heads down to the woods to share the secrets of badgerteering.

I love my job. Only the other week, I was out for a day in the woods between Pickering and Whitby with some students from Filey School. In between making ourselves natural shelters using sticks, twigs and dead leaves, and boiling kettles on wood fires for our lunchtime brew, we also did a spot of badgerteering. Never heard of it? I am not surprised, because we invented it and it is a fun way of navigating around the forest, while learning about nature at the same time.

Here is how it works; the children were each given a copy of the map featured on this page and went off in pairs, starting at the double red circle. When they reached point number one they saw the following information:

Latrine

Badgers do not go to the toilet just anywhere. They pick particular places as communal latrines and dig individual scrapes to poo in. This area is the local badger family’s latrine.

Further up the track at number two, the youngsters found:

Tufts of fur

When a badger path passes close to a fence, sharp branch or thorny tree, the animals occasionally leave behind giveaway tufts of fur as they move past. Here they have left evidence on the gatepost. Check the other side of the track for footprints.

Deep in the forest, at number three, the information was:

Scratching tree

Badgers keep their very strong digging claws in good condition by scratching them regularly on favourite trees – just like cats do on the furniture.

This is one of the local badger family’s scratching trees; look for tell-tale scrape marks on the bark, near the ground.

Nearly finished and at number four, badger food was the topic.

Worm-hunting

Badgers are omnivores; that is they eat plants and animals, but one of their staple foods is earthworms. Here are the holes left from where badgers have been digging in rich soil for worms.

The children all made it successfully to number five and congratulated themselves.

Home sweet home

Well done. You have tracked the badgers back to their home (sett). There is a large extended family of 15 to 20 badgers fast asleep beneath your feet at the moment.

How many entrance/exit holes can you find?

The youngsters on my watch counted 19 holes and un-jumbled the red letters to create the word brock.

Being children, their favourite place was, of course, the latrine, where they all poked the poo with sticks and found out that the badgers had been eating lots.

Big thank yous go to the Forestry Commission staff, at Pickering, for giving us permission to enjoy learning in their woods.