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Difficulty:
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Terrain:
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Size: 
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This is a straight forward cache in a small wood near the bustling village of Heswall. Parking is free at the given coordinates. Please keep to the paths.
Although rarely seen, this small wood is home to badger setts. Badgers are found across Britain, usually in woods below 100 metres wherever ground conditions, such as drainage, and land use permits. They live in underground burrows, called setts, in social groups usually of between 4 and 12 badgers. Each group has a 'territory', varying in size from around 30 hectares where there is plenty of food and 150 hectares in marginal habitat. Male and female badgers, called 'boars' and 'sows', both reach maturity when they are just over 1 year old. They usually mate in the spring, with most births in the following February. This seems a long 'pregnancy', but it takes up to 9 months for the embryo to implant in the womb. Development in the womb (the 'gestation' period) is only 7 weeks. Usually, there are 2 or 3 cubs born in each litter, but single cubs and quadruplets (4 cubs) are not uncommon. Less than 50% of cubs survive to adulthood. Badgers are omnivorous - they eat both animals and plants - and they are able to choose from a wide range of food, depending on the time of year, weather conditions and local land use. By far the most important item in their diet is earthworms, but other favoured foods include beetles, birds, young rabbits, rodents like squirrels and rats, reptiles and amphibians. Badgers also feed on bee and wasp larvae, fruits, fungi, cereals, nuts, seeds and berries.
Signs of badger activity can be seen more easily than the animal itself. Look for evidence such as heavily worn badger paths with distinctive 5-toed footprints, claw marks on trees, dung pits, mounds of earth outside the entrances to setts, remains of bedding material, and coarse, wiry badger hair.
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Adult badgers have no natural predators. The main influences on their survival are competition between themselves and their environment, and human activity - around 50,000 adult badgers are killed each year in road accidents.
Today, badgers are protected by law, and they have been given protection in Forestry Commission woods for many years. Please keep your dogs under control and do not disturb any Badger Setts.
The cache is not placed near the badger sett, but near a lovely area with a view
We would like to thank Dan Travis, the Ranger for giving us permission for this cache in a Site of Biological Importance (SBI's)
Additional Hints
(Decrypt)
Erfgshy cynpr