What an amazing summer of wildlife

I was out until dusk most nights watching badgers or deer – and cameras hidden in my garden meant that even on rainy days I could continue to follow the lives of the animals living on my doorstep.

Among my most memorable moments was watching a litter of stoat kits tear round my garden, bounding in and out of the flower beds and even bouncing on my children’s trampoline.

I’ve been following the lives of stoats in my garden for years now and this young family belonged to a beautiful female named Hazel, who also grew up here. On really hot days, I brought out the paddling pool for them and watched as they swam, even pushing some of the floating balls around it with their noses like children at a swimming pool!

In summer, the wildflower meadows I planted in my garden hum and buzz with insects. I can hear them as I sit painting at my easel and even now often get distracted by flocks of linnets, goldfinches, or yellow hammers as they flit about feeding on seed heads. Made up of a mixture of grasses, scabious, knapweed, oxeye daisies, and clover, these meadows are also a magnet for butterflies.

My favourite time was just before sunset when I would leave the hum of the garden to head into a nearby valley.

Here, there is an ancient badger sett and, since these animals have poor eyesight, I can often get really close.

On one occasion a cub was almost on top of me before he noticed I was there. Then, when he did, he puffed up his fur until he looked like a porcupine!

This sett is one of the largest around here, and back in the spring I counted eleven individuals.

It is located on the side of a very deep Wolds valley and by sitting on the opposite slope, you can watch the badgers quite easily without disturbing them.

A group of badgers is called a clan, and there’s always a dominant male, known as a boar, and female, known as a sow. Beneath this pair is a fascinating hierarchical family structure made up mostly of related sows and cubs. The young boars tend to leave to look for new territories once they become adults, but it can take years before they are powerful enough to take over a new clan.

In general, only the dominant sow will breed, however sometimes a lower-ranking female does also mate with the dominant boar.

At this sett there are at least five adults and six cubs, and since the average number of cubs one sow will give birth to is three, I suspect more than one sow gave birth to cubs this year.

The cubs are especially playful and sometimes their behaviour is really quite comical. One evening I watched as a boar sat down to scratch and then one of the cubs came alongside it and also began scratching. Their synchronised movements were hilarious to watch.

It is usually dark when I get home from watching the badgers, but that doesn’t’ mean the wildlife spectacle is over. As the stars come out, I often settle with in front of my living room window with a cuppa to watch as barn owls and tawny owls swoop across the night sky.

This year a barn owl pair had a late brood and already the eldest has fledged. I hope the autumn weather will be kind to them as they begin their adult lives.

It’s been a wonderful summer packed with wildlife adventures and it is nice to remember these magical moments. But autumn is also an amazing time to see wildlife here in Yorkshire and already I’m enjoying watching hares bound across the stubble fields and am looking forward to spotting winter migrant birds arriving.