Tonight, as with any night when I've not watched the badgers the night before, I'm quite keen to get over there and see what's about. Usual routine, arrive, quick chat, top up with nuts and off into the gathering dark. I actually get to the hide about 20:00 and after putting the food out I sit and relax, waiting for whatever turns up. About 20:10, my first visitor arrives. Out of the dusk, I can see the distinctive head of a badger sniffing his way towards me. As I approach the hide, I leave a bit of a trail of peanuts over the last part of the path and increase them slightly as I enter the feeding area. It is this line of peanuts the badgers sniff down towards the hide once into the feeding area. Although I've now been doing this since July, it still gives me a thrill when I see a badger coming towards the hide.Tonight the badger is, for now, alone. I kneel down by the door, which does have the net down tonight, and watch the badger feeding a few feet from me. Another badger appears around the corner on the main path and as there are no nuts for him because the first one ate them all, he is soon alongside the first. These are my two regulars, I'm pretty certain, and they confidently feed close to me and the hide. As the nuts I put out are nearly gone, I begin to feed the badgers extra nuts. As per usual, I do this be whistling and then throwing a few nuts out to them. As I whistle, both badgers stop and lift their heads and I then throw the nuts out to them. As soon as they hit the floor, the badgers are sniffing them out and tucking in. If I throw the nuts between them, this normally triggers a bit of push and shove, or "argy bargy" as I like to call it. It always makes me smile when they lean into each other and try and push the competition away from the nuts with little grunting noises into the bargain. I can repeat the additional nut feeding several times and the animals just keep on eating. They are now right outside the hide and I decide to put some nuts onto the door step. So they don't see my hand appear out of the darkness right in front of them, I whistle and throw some nuts slightly behind them, causing them to turn around. I can then put some nuts on the doorstep, hopefully without getting seen. I whistle and throw some nuts very close to the hide and they turn and move right up to the step. As the grass is long here, they snuffle around and use those fierce looking claws to try and get the peanuts out. Once these few nuts are gone, they are sniffing around again and one latches onto the nuts on the doorstep. He puts a claw onto the step and lifts himself up. A quick glance directly at me, then he's eating the half a dozen nuts I put onto the step. I have the camera with me and take a shot. The badger doesn't flinch and after finishing the nuts, he drops back down to continue the hunt for more food. I repeat the doorstep feeding several times, taking a shot each time. Eventually I feel they have had enough food and stop feeding any more. It takes a good ten minutes of sniffing around before both badgers have wandered off and now I can shut the hide up, leave a few nuts for the second shift and head back to the Barn Owl Centre.
When I get back to the centre, I discuss the evening with Vince and Juliette and as we are chatting it becomes apparant that we have some wild Tawny Owls having a chat with Ollie, one of the Tawny Owls here at the Centre. One is in the tree over by the flying area, and although he is quite close, we can't see him. As I'm stood in the office doorway wth Juliette, he flies from that tree, right over the aviaries and is illuminated by the lighting around the aviaries. He looks great, calling as he flies over to the tree just behind the barn here. He sits there calling for a while, but suddenly calls even closer. Juliette peers out of the office door, and there on the kitchen roof, maybe four or five yards away, is a wild Tawny. He doesn't stay long once he's seen us, but it was fantastic to see and a great way to end the evening.All Pictures Copyright
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