My recent visits to the sites of old mines set me thinking.

Which is really the king of the diggers — mankind or animals?

I decided on animals and listed the badger as one of the best.

Badger setts consist of a network of tunnels that have been dug often over the centuries and the animals work hard to keep them in order.

There are areas where dead badgers are buried, toilet areas, breeding areas and sleeping areas.

Every so often dry grass (let us hope they get some soon) is gathered and taken down into the sett. There it is made into a comfy bed.

As autumn passes into winter, badgers do build up body fat but they do not hibernate.

In bad weather, they remain underground but they do emerge from time to time to find food and they are among the best scavengers in nature. Like a friend of mine said: “They’ll eat owt”.

There are no animals with a more powerful bite than a badger and I once found a skull near to a quarry in Clitheroe.

Looking at this I could see how powerful the jaws are and there is even a locking device that means once they have a grip, badgers do not let go.

Badgers have no rival for the title of Best Digger, unless it is the Mok.