This is either a new sette or one I have not seen before, and I have hunted this part of this hedge for quite a few years. No one was home on this day.
From the look of the wide spray of dirt when this was dug, it may have housed a fox this last winter. Fox dig like a dog, and toss the dirt well back. The shape of this hole is pretty horizontal for a fox however, so it's not crystal clear.
Badger? I can't tell how close this sette is to water here in your photo...In the northeast US I see similar settes to this used by badger along ridgelines near rivers or some water source. The shape is similar.
ReplyDeleteNo badger in Virginia or Maryland. Closest is Michigan, Iowa, and Maybe Ohio, but not many there. Badger are really a western animal where they dine on small ground squirrels, prairie dogs, pocket gophers, and various kinds of rats and snakes.
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