Country diary: The badgers dug their own HS2 overnight | Sean Wood

Kirkcudbright, Dumfries and Galloway: After I exposed fresh earth with some hedgerow 'laying', they set to work with a feat of remarkable engineeringThere are two species of troglodyte at my Fairy Hill Croft in the Stewartry of Kirkcudbright, the wren and the badger, and they both made themselves known last week after I cut back and "laid" my sprawling hawthorn hedge. The overgrown hawthorn, beech, holly hedges and grapevines were blocking my 360-degree view of the forests, hills and stone walls that lace the pastures together here and draw the eye south to the mountains of Cumbria.The jack-in-the-box wren gave out a "chip, chip, chip" from the naked hawthorn that no longer afforded anonymity; a tiny thing of beauty dipping like a wagtail, stubby tail at a jaunty angle. Continue reading...