Have we been badgered?

I spotted a fresh shallow excavation in one of our drainage ditches this morning and I wondered what had caused it. There was a scrape of about a cubic foot of earth removed amongst tree roots with the spoil scattered backwards about five feet.

In the hole were some clawed and bitten roots. Some of the marks were deep and suggested something powerful. I then spotted bees going in and out the hole frequently. There were sticky or wet-looking roots with small flies on them but no odour (that I was aware of). I wondered if the "sticky" was sap, honey or just urine.

Initially I was thinking rabbits but once I saw the clawed roots, I began thinking fox or badger. We are in a rural wooded/arable area in South Ayrshire so are well within Scottish badger territory.

There were no visible dead bees or nest fragments however.

Thoughts?

Aardvark .

Well I have stuffed it with rocks and covered the area with the spoil since whatever it was did not come back last night.

No signs of any identifiable poo in the area (other than from the rabbits of course. The bees are gone today, presumably to make another nest elsewhere.

Sadly no prize veg. Not even any "humorous" veg either. I still think badger given the claw marks on the roots.

If the burglar wanted to hide the swag, I'd offer him the use of the garage at reasonable rates as we have some very well-heeled neighbours! One of them got an iPhone X on the day they were released and it was delivered to me since they were out of the country at the time. I felt like a kid at Christmas trying to guess what was in the package without being allowed to open it.