I've been to work all day today due to working in a school and the having the start of term on Monday. I'm now looking forward to going over to see the badgers. It's a great way to unwind from the stresses of IT! My seventeen year old son, Andrew, decides to come along with me tonight. He hasn't been before as he's normally too busy doing teenager things...
We get over to the Barn Owl Centre and introduce him to Vince and Juliette. We have a quick chat and a quick look around the birds. I show him Kaln, Turner and Mozart, the Eagle Owls, and some of the other birds here, including Connie, the young Long-Eared Owl. As it's almost dark we stock up with nuts and set off for the hide. On the way down, Andrew tells me he's never seen a badger properly. Hopefully that will change in the near future. As we get near to the hide I can see some dark shapes on the grass in front of it. I tell Andrew to stop and turn on the light. We are greeted by two sets of eye shine, which bobs around looking at us. Amazingly both badgers start trotting towards us. We are just stood there on the path with two wild badgers approacing rapidly. At about five metres away, they both stop, looking at us and sniffing the air. They are downwind of us so I'm not expecting anything else to happen, apart from them running off when they smell us. Then, one of the badgers starts coming closer. I throw a few nuts down in front of Andrew and the badger walks to within a foot of Andrews feet. It does, however, smell us and trots off, taking his friend with him. Andrew has seen a badger now!
Once we've put the food out and entered the hide we settle down for the wait. It's not long before the first animal arrives and is soon joined by a second. I think this is the usual twosome we get, but so difficult to say. They are soon feeding close to the hide and we get great views. I have brough my dad's Samsung camera along with me tonight and begin taking shots. No reaction from the animals. Whilst the animals are still about a metre away, I take the shot above which I like a lot. It shows the badger with its tail showing clearly, something you don't see too often. They come closer until they are literally against the hide. Andrew is sitting crosslegged with two badgers literally inches from him. The peanuts are now getting thin on the ground and the badgers are sniffing along the edge of the hide in the longer grass the mower cannot reach. I whistle and throw a few more nuts out. They find them within seconds and start chewing their way through the additional food. I do this several times and they keep coming back for more! I am getting bolder with the camera and holding outside of the hide no more than a foot away from the badgers. They don't seem to mind at all. The shot below is an example of that. I'm holding the camera below the step into the hide and the badger is about a foot away. Exciting times!
The badgers showed really well tonight with three animals turning up, although only two came close to the hide. I really enjoyed sharing this with Andrew and I think he enjoyed it too. We went back up to the centre and saw another badger en route, but didn't get too close to it. A chat and a coffee with Vince and Juliette. It was a very pleasant evening weatherwise too. For a while, we thought it was thundering in the distance, but decided it must be fireworks somewhere. It was fun speculating what the noise might be. Maybe War of the Worlds?All in all, a great way to spend an evening.Pictures Copyright Mark Williams
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