So we do have Badgers!

Further to the previous post showing a hulled out hedgehog skin, I put out a camera trap in the same spot and 2 days later this little fella showed up. I have slowed the video down by 50%; if you blink you will miss it dash past the camera! 

Unexpected find... Not for the squeamish!

 I was walking the perimeter of LBF and saw a hedgehog on top of a mound of dried grass at the edge of some trees. On closer inspection something seemed not quite right. I touched the spines to see if it would move... No, no movement, so I picked it up to have a closer look; as I turned it in my hand, it quickly became apparent that it was just the skin and spines of the hog, its body had been carefully eaten out from the underside!     

All that remained was the skin which was also rather foul smelling, so I put it down as quickly as I had picked it up.

I wondered what may have eaten the hedgehog, perhaps a fox had been able to take advantage of a dead or dying hog?  After a little bit of research - (posting pictures on a forum) and Googling 'what eats hedgehogs', it seems that Badgers are known to eat hedgehogs in this way, leaving just a 'shell' of spines as evidence.  This was somewhat of a surprise to me as I have not seen a badger or badger set anywhere near LBF in the years I have lived here and have been absent participants on the camera trap.  I don't know it was a badger for sure, but this seems like the M.O of a striped culprit, but needs more evidence... I will put out the camera trap in the same location with some dog food / biscuits and see if a badger shows up in the wee small hours.