Nut spreading...

Hi
To bring you up to date with my attempts at getting badgers to feed in a specific area with a view to allowing others to come and see these wonderful animals up close and personal.

I set out on the first night, Monday 13th July 2009, with a couple of pound of peanuts and high hopes of seeing some badgers. The previous Friday we had seen several badgers around the site and I took this as a good sign. I arrived at the hide at about 20:40 and had starting leaving a small number of peanuts on the paths down to the hide. In front of the hide I then spread eight or ten good handfuls. I retreated into the hide and the wait began. It's quite pleasant, sitting on your own in the countryside with the anticipation running high. I hadn't thought of taking a chair, so the floor had to do. The night started to draw in and at around 22:00 the light was almost gone. I stuck it out until about 10:45, but nothing showed up. I felt I was in for a month or two of baiting with nuts with little to show. Hey ho, first night and all that. At least I had made a start...

The following two nights I could only find time to go down to the hide and leave the nuts. It was sort of reassuring to find that all the nuts had gone. Was it badgers, or would we have fat pigeons and pheasants staking the hide out waiting for a free feed? I then had to miss a night and only managed to bait up again on the Friday. I hadn't seen a badger for a week although I was thinking the ground looked a bit "roughed up" in front of the hide where the majority of the nuts were placed.

Saturday night I was able to sit in the hide again for a couple of hours. I wandered down the usual route, but having baited the area I felt it was still quite light and having discussed with Vince where the sett might be, went for a wander at the other end of the farm. Although it was getting quite dark, I had a scan of the field with the binos and actually saw a badger out rummaging for food! I was pleased; a badger had been spotted! It disappeared into a hedge just where Vince thought the sett was, but didn't reappear. I walked back down to the hide, but didn't see anything on the way.

As I walked along the meandering path, the mown area in front of the hide came into view and there was a lump on the grass! I moved a little closer and something was there. Barely containing my excitement, I knelt down on the grass and began watchig two badgers feeding on the nuts I had put there not an hour before. I was ecstatic! I sat and watched them for about 15 minutes and it suddenly dawned on me that I should be in the hide. Vince had mentioned that you should make some noise whilst there as this will warn the badgers someone is about and they will, hopefully, get used to it. I stood up and whistled and took a couple of steps forward. No response. I whistled again and took another couple of steps. No response. I was now able to see a third badger with not a care in the world. The closest animal was no more than four metres away! Again, I stood and watched for a couple of minutes. I then whistled again and moved closer. The nearest animal turned around at this point and ran for it. I don't blame it! The other two looked around wondering what the threat was, saw me and ran. I was still very pleased that they had come to my area and thought that would be it for the evening. How wrong I was...