For a couple of years I've been wondering if the big holes at the side of Mariners Lane are a fox den, badger sett or something else. They look more badger shaped but foxes seem far more likely in an urban area, and I can't think what something else might be. On Friday evening I saw it: a badger, coming out of the rectory gate just ahead of me then running – or rather bounding in a hopping way, it's quite distinct from a fox or dog, or any other animal that comes to mind – up the path, stopping ever few metres to stare at me. Sorry, badger, this is a human path, made by humans at least two thousand years ago (it's the old Roman road from Porta Abonae to Glevum), you can use it too but we're not going to stop. Eventually it reached the first entrance and disappeared from view. Badger eyeshine is white, very bright, and their grey coats blend very effectively into the gloom of dusk, leaving their stripy heads visible.
