tracking


Animal sign

Tracking isn’t just about finding the tracks that an animal leaves behind, it’s also about the other clues that they leave that can inform us of their presence.  These clues are often refereed to as ‘sign’.  Here I’ll briefly describe some of those different types of  animal sign. Scat Scat is the term used in […]


number of toes | methods of locomotion | Jack raven Bushcraft in BBC Wildlife Magazine

Number of toes

The table below shows the number of toes for common mammal species in the British Isles.  The list includes plantigrades and digitigrades but not ungulates.  Take a look at this post for more detail on different methods of locomotion in mammals. Species Fore foot Hind foot Badgers 5 5 Hedgehogs 5 5 Mice 4 5 […]


Badger latrines

Recently whilst wandering through our beautiful ancient woodland I spotted a couple of  badger latrines.  This is great, it means that badgers are around.  So I put together this short video to show you what a badger latrine looks like (warning – there’s a close up!) and why they dig them. We talk about and […]

badger latrines | tracking | wildlife | bushcraft | Kent

gaits | tracking | bushcraft | Kent

Gaits

According to Wikipedia, “Gait is the pattern of movement of the limbs of animals, including humans, during locomotion over a solid substrate.”  Understanding these different patterns will inform us of how quickly the animal is moving, so a useful skill in tracking and trailing. You might want to take a look at this post about […]


Measuring tracks

When we look at a track, what we’re looking at is the imprint made by the sole of the foot; this is called ‘hollow relief’.  There are 3 main foot types within mammals, you might want to take a look at this post to get a better understanding of those different foot types. The picture […]

measuring tracks | tracking | nature awareness | Kent | London | south east

track traps | methods of locomotion

Methods of locomotion

Understanding the different methods of locomotion in mammals relies on an understanding of the evolution of mammals so I’m starting this post with a very brief overview of that. The lineage that lead to mammals diverged from reptiles about 325 million years ago.  This evolutionary line is referred to as synapsids.  It’s thought that the […]