Did you know that the name of the town of Broxburn in West Lothian translates to “brock’s burn”? Broc is the Gaelic word for badger and burn being the Scots word for a stream. But why am I mentioning this?

This month, to celebrate their 20-year anniversary, the charity Scottish Badgers is teaming up with the Scottish Wildlife Trust, South Lanarkshire Council and Glasgow City Council to organise a fun initiative to get people out & about in their local area and to celebrate one of our most iconic native mammals!

‘Brocktober’ will see a series of painted badger pebbles or ‘brocks’ released in country parks throughout Glasgow and Lanarkshire during the month of October.

The brocks, each one unique, will be released in a different country park each week and clues will be issued via Scottish Badgers’ Facebook and Twitter pages encouraging people to go out and look for the brocks (which they can keep) and post a photo to social media if they find one .

The Falls of Clyde Wildlife Watch Group ‘H.AW.K.S.’ will be launching the initiative on Saturday 5th October by hiding their hand painted brocks within the reserve in New Lanark. Brocks will be released at Chatelherault Country Park on Monday 14th October, with the final ‘clan’ heading to Pollok Country Park on Monday 21st October.

Elaine Rainey, Project Officer for Scottish Badgers, says:

“We really wanted to do something fun to celebrate all the hard work that has gone into protecting badgers in Scotland over the past twenty years, and to raise awareness of the issues badgers face but also their fascinating lives. We really hope to inspire people to get out & about in our beautiful country parks to look for the brocks – who knows what else you might see while you’re out there?!”

So be like “Clyde” the badger below, and root out those rockin’ brock rocks.

The Brocktober initiative is a collaboration between the two charities Scottish Badgers and the Scottish Wildlife Trust as part of their ‘Earn Your Stripes’ project, funded by the National Lottery Heritage Fund. For more information, please contact projectofficer@scottishbadgers.org.uk.

Clare Toner, Clyde Valley Ranger and Elaine Rainey, Project Officer for Scottish Badgers.