MOST birds do it, bees certainly do it, yet even the most educated flea doesn’t do it. What’s that? Well, design and build their own des-res. As with humans, an animal’s home is its castle, a place of shelter and security in which to live and raise the brood. If a beast’s, bird’s or bug’s abode is primarily a sanctuary for survival of the species, the scale and complexity of animal architecture must make even Norman Foster and Richard Rogers go jade-eyed.
It is fitting that Britain’s oldest landowner, Brock the badger, excavates its manor home in the very earth of the isles. Badgers, with their short limbs and sharp claws, are born to dig; indeed, the animal’s name is likely derived from the French, meaning digger. I once saw a badger mining a new entrance to its family home or sett; dirt flew as the badger bored into the earth, furry limbs working furiously, at the rate of a yard every five
