With snowfall in this country there is often a limited window of opportunity to make the most of your tracking skills before a thaw sets in again. If you are tied to a daily job (I am lucky enough to be self-employed) you also need it to snow at the weekend! Still, it is worth persevering for a large amount of experience will come your way in a short space of time. There is more snow to come for many parts, so make the most of it.

Good snow, perfect tracking snow – settling all day to a depth of say 10cm and not freezing hard, nor melting at all at night when most creatures are active or all the next day while you are out in it – not only reveals exciting little details but also the big picture of what is about and where they go. The later in the season it falls, the more activity you are likely to encounter; the early winter lethargy of many animals will have passed and fat reserves run down, so food will take higher priority. Badgers, for instance, begin to move around more as pregnant females make space for themselves, perhaps evicting some other sows and younger boars from the sett in the process. Much seasonal activity is dictated by day length and that inexorably gets greater as we move towards spring.

The most recent snowfall (here in my part of Kent) spoke volumes. As I stepped out of my door I immediately learned that we have a Wood Mouse (or possibly the closely related Yellow-necked Mouse) or two, using our coal bunker as a thoroughfare. The curious cloven-hoof-like tracks of a mouse hopping in snow can be quite a puzzle if you have never encountered them before. In February 1855 large numbers appeared in the snows of rural Devon and were not generally understood for what they were. They caused such a stir that some folks thought they were the footprints of Satan himself and the incident was reported in The Times!

A close look, in most cases, will reveal the imprint of the tail. That said, a little while later, in the woods I found a hopping mouse trail with no tail drag. (see photos below) That trail also followed the mouse’s outward line on the return journey, making a confusion of prints that needed unpicking.

The direction of movement is indicated by the wider gap. This is made by the hindfeet landing ahead of the forefeet. A Rabbit (inset) shows something similar but greatly scaled up.

hopping mouse leaving no tail marks; what a strange beast it appears to have been

Bear in mind that two way trails are common with many mammals. A small creature like a mouse or rabbit will have a learned route that they can flee down in moments of danger without a thought or hesitation, so ingrained that they know where every obstacle is for an instant manoeuvre.(It has been shown by experiment that for a while they still jump over objects that have been removed.) Other animals follow scent trails that they have laid down, Badger and Fox, for instance, but the Fox also has excellent vision and may follow his own trail by sight.

Just to try to confuse you, a single line but the Fox both came and went this way

Here is an example of where a Fox has struck out over a rather wide open area but has stuck almost exactly to the trail it had left previously. You can see that in places the animal deviates from line slightly (probably to investigate a scent) but otherwise holds it tight. These tracks led to (and from) a spot where there had been a lot going on. I thought it may have been hunting activity but there was absolutely no sign of prey, just indications of more than one Fox. Then I realised it was play, probably between dog fox and vixen as the mating season is only just coming to an end. Aside from a patch where one animal had rolled in the snow, there was a beautiful example of a four-footed pounce, with a brush mark, something that a Fox usually does when catching mice or voles.

I didn’t get very far in four hours, there was so much to see. More woods and a river nearby but not the time on this occasion. Probably the most strangely beautiful sight of the day was the double imprint of a Blackbird that had inadvertently landed in deep snow and floundered, leaving the impressions of fanned wings and tail, feet and even chin and beak.

A real 3-D effect this way round (the white patch is a Fox footprint made later)