Here’s some pics from when I went on a Track and Sign course with Pippin & Gile in October. Tracking is learning about the footprints of animals. Sign is other markings and evidence they have made – which includes a lot of poo!

Our tutors Jason and Lizzy took us to a badger sett and trails used by foxes and rabbits. We found all kinds of poop just outside the farm gate, including the hook shaped excretion of a Green Woodpecker. We discovered trails animals used to get into the graveyard.

Lizxy explained to us how track and sign tells a story. A fox had been skulking around, and the woodpecker and pigeon had been interrupted. the fox had then killed the pigeon, chewing and gnawing the ends of the feathers.

We then headed across an open field, where Lizzy pointed out parts of the crop that deer had run through. Bent stems and hairs, plus track, showed it was a Roe deer. We saw a lot of forms – scrapes in the ground – that roe deer make when they lie down in the woods. We saw trees they had gnawed and how the female tests the stamina of the male by exhausting him in a circle round a tree!

Squirrels had made an anvil on a tree stump. Here they smash the nuts and seeds they harvest. Acorns and hazelnuts in crevices were put there by woodpeckers.

Small rodents and birds have differnt ways of getting into nuts and seeds. Lizzy showed us the miniscule tooth marks of a shrew (or was it a vole? Sorry Lizzy, put me right if your’e reading this!) on the inside of a broken nut.

We noticed the funnel of a ground web spider (i’m not sure on the name, I went last Oct so its a bit hazy!). Lizzy showed us the tracks of leaf miner beetles within leaves, translucent trails getting larger as they grew.

It was amazing just slowing right down and really looking, really noticing. I found it hard telling animal tracks from just the tiniest impression in the earth and leaf litter. Jason and Lizzy both have Cyber Tracker qualifications. They made it look easy. It wasn’t!

This book helped. It was waterproof – also handy in British weather. The tracks are all full size in the pictures too. We used rulers to measure the tracks – essential for telling species of deer apart etc.

Lizzy took us to base camp, where we looked through and passed around skulls, feathers and animal feet. This is vital for showing how animals move in the field. Plus we got shelter from the rain.

Theres so much more I could write here. Sheared off feathers and plucked feathers where a bird of prey made a neat kill. Eggs that had been eaten by a crow, eggs that had been eaten by a rodent.

You could spend weeks, months and never see it all. If you’re looking for something to do in the off season for foraging, tracking is a great activity. It’s as addictive as foraging too!

Check out Lizzy’s courses at ‘Pippin & Gile’ online. They are based in Surrey.

xx Hedgewitch Kat xx