ALTHOUGH there is a lot of winter still to come, the days are getting longer and some of our mammals, including foxes and badgers, are now moving about over greater distances.

On the road between Blackburn and Chorley I found a dead fox which had obviously been run over. Last year a friend of mine gave me a gruesome photograph of a badger killed by a car.

Those driving on country roads in the dark should take extra care. Even those heartless people who do not care about wildlife (there are fewer of these now thank goodness) should know that large animals can do substantial damage to vehicles. There are a number of precautions you can take to avoid road casualties to animals. Obviously you should keep to the speed limits, dip your headlights when you see a creature which will be dazzled by lights and also you should carefully reduce speed.

In the meantime, I would like readers to let me know of animals they see dead by the roadside. I enter these in the 'Nature Spy' section of the column. Sad though it is, these dead animals do give an idea of where the species is found and could help in future conservation.