Natural Observations

Wednesday 16/6/10 - A exciting forty five minutes

2010-06-17T17:33:00.000+01:00

It was a glorious evening in Gloucester, clear skies, slight breeze and the setting sun shedding that gorgeous richness across the landscape. I initially set off towards the orchard near the sett to see if there was any activity there, collecting bedding or feeding, which I have witnessed here lately. It was still quite light and no activity here. I watched for five or ten minutes then headed off down to the hide. As I was walking along one of the mowed pathways which wind around the farm, a sudden movement caught my eye. On one of the grass piles, where the cuttings go when Vince mows the pathways, a vixen and her cub who were resting on one of the piles jumped up and the vixen disappeared. I just stood still and the cub who had its back to me just stood and watched where his mum had gone. He was no more than thirty feet from me and was tilting his head from one side to the other as though saying "come on, mum, stop playing around". He obviously hadn't seen me. After a good thirty or forty seconds, he started sniffing around and that was when he turned, saw me and vanished into the long grass. I was really pleased to see at least one cub around. I'd seen foxes from time to time, but no cubs so far this year.

I wandered over to the area the cub had disappeared, which was right next to one of the dry ditches that run around and through the farm. I could hear movement in the ditch so lowered myself behind the long grass a little and waited for the cub to appear. What actually appeared was a badger! Now this area in early spring looked like badgers were using it as an additional sett, but I hadn't seen, or heard any activity for a couple of months. Well the badger moved up the opposite bank of the ditch and started collecting bedding by clawing at the grass and gathering it into a ball and walking backwards, rolling it along, and disappeared back towards what must be an active sett! He repeated this three times, which is great news as this sett is only about forty metres from the hide.

I then wandered onto the hide and put nuts out as usual, waited for a few mminutes, but had to get back so didn't stay long. I thought I'd check out the orchard on my way back. En route I heard something in the wild flower meadow, so crept closer. The grass and flowers are quite tall here and although I got quite close to what was obviously a badger from the noises it was making, maybe four feet, I couldn't actually see it. It was sniffing loudly, then a pause as it noisily ate something, then more sniffing. I left it alone and carried onto the orchard, but still nothing there. Although it was getting dark now, a cuckoo was still calling and the light was fantastic. All in all, a great way to spend 45 minutes!

First Visitor of the Year

2010-05-27T23:35:00.000+01:00

As mentioned in the previous entry, Chris was coming to visit tonight in the hope of seeing a badger. Things are still pretty erratic at present, so not overly confident, although with Monday's viewing fresh in my memory, a lot more confident than I was.

Chris and myself turned up at the Barn Owl Centre at about 9.30. I filled my pockets with peanuts and as it was overcast and had been raining, light was fading fast, we went straight out into the gloom. First target area was the gate near to the sett which is normally pretty good for seeing something. I put a few nuts out and we settled down into the wet grass at the side of the footpath. It was about now the rain started falling again! It wasn't just drizzle either, but we stayed put for about twenty minutes, but no sign of any badgers. As the light was now almost gone, plus the fact we were getting wet, we set off for the hide. On the way down, we did hear a badger in one of the dry ditches, but it never materialised. Into the hide at about 10.15 with peanuts out in front, some quite close. I was even optimistic enough to put some on the door step of the hide! We waited for three quarters of an hour and nothing had shown. I had heard a badger moving behind the hide along the hedge, but it never came into the feeding area. At 11.20 I checked with Chris if he was OK for a bit longer. He said he was, but another ten minutes and I would call it a day. With a badger turning up at 11.30, if it stuck around for forty minutes, it would be well gone midnight and with work in the morning...

Just after 11.30, we called it a day in the hide and I just hoped we would see something on the way back up. We didn't, so I suggested going back to the gate near the sett where we had started the evening. We arrived there, and nothing. Feeling a little disappointed, I scanned the newly mown orchard area, but nothing out there, not even eyeshine. I literally gave the orchard one last scan with the torch and this time saw some eyeshine! I kept the beam on the animal and it was a badger. Not only a badger, but one of this years, it was tiny! It was about 20m away and had its head up and was sniffing wildly, but it stayed put for thirty seconds or more before heading for the long grass. It certainly wasn't the best view of a badger I've had, but it was first for Chris and I think he was really pleased. We went back up to the farm with a bit more of a bounce in our step than we'd had earlier. All in all, a slightly disappointed evening, but we did see one and that's what it's all about! Gone midnight by now so home to bed.

Thanks to Chris for being so patient and I hope he and his family enjoy the rest of their stay.

Here we go again!

2010-05-26T16:44:00.000+01:00

Hi
It's been over five months since I last posted. There are several reasons for this, the main one being there has been little to report! I have been feeding the badgers, or baiting the feeding area about five nights a week. Only once in that time, until very recently, have I seen a badger near the hide. During my feeding visits, I quite often have a walk around the farm, mostly in the dark or heavy dusk, but sometimes earlier. On odd occasions I have seen badgers, especially up near the sett, so I guess the badgers are staying close to home.

This has not been very reassuring with regard to getting people down to see the badgers. Over the last week, or so, things have been improving, but my, are they out late! I've been staying 'til 10.30ish and not seeing anything at the hide, but I have been seeing more and more on the way back up. That is, an odd badger, or if I'm lucky two. On Sunday, Chris, who is from Australia and returning there on Saturday, paid a visit to the Barn Owl Centre and saw our Badger Watching signs. Although it was explained to him that chances were slim, he really wanted to try and see one whilst he was here. As I'm down there anyway, I thought why not? It's a part of this badger watching I really enjoy, being able to show someone a badger who may never have seen one before.

On Monday evening I decided to have a trial run of what we would do, albeit on my own. I went down to the gateway near the sett and waited for fifteen or twenty minutes and although I did hear some movement and chattering, I didn't see anything. I then moved to another "hotspot", but nothing there. Down to the hide and put peanuts out, near the hide and sit and wait. At 22.30, a single badger appeared from my left madly sniffing the air. He sussed me out in no time and trotted off. 22.50 and a badger appears from the main path in front of the hide, walks straight down to the hide and begins feeding about six or eight feet out. It was a lovely warm evening and sat there watching the badger feed brought back all those experiences I had last year. It was great! During the time the badger was feeding, another badger appeared, but stayed away from the hide. At one point, the feeding badger seemed to get intimidated by the newcomers presence and ran off. He was back a minute or so later. What wasn't so great was the amount of time he spent noisily sniffing around the feeding area. He must have covered every square inch! It was 23.40 when he disappeared and I could come out of the hide and go home. During the session, I firstly put a torch on the animal at quite a low level without problem. I also took two photos when it was very close to the hide, again without reaction. I'm sure due to this, and other mannerisms, that it was the small badger from last year that used to feed regularly.

I'll take my guest down to the hide tonight with a little more confidence now. Watch this space and I'll tell you how it goes.

5/1/10 - Happy New Year!

2010-01-05T10:40:00.000Z

Well, hope you all had a good Christmas and New Year. Back to the routine way of life of work, sleep and get out when I can, which hasn't been much lately. Since my last post in early December I have continued to feed the badgers most nights, but have not seen one during that time. I was talking to Kev Lewis down at the Barn Owl Centre the other night. He was out taking star trail pictures (which you can see on his web site). This process took him about three hours and he was in what was a "hot spot" for badgers. During his stay he saw no sign of badgers moving around, which isn't great. That is only one night, but during the time spent there, I would have hoped, he might have seen or heard something.

The tracks they use around the farm seem to be as cleary defined as ever so they are being used regularly, but I'm guessing late at night or early hours. Hopefully, with the food still going down regularly, they will return to a more sociable hour at some point, but that now may not happen until Spring.

I have been out and about a little with visits to Ham Wall RSPB site near Glastonbury, mainly to see the starlings, but whilst there I was lucky enough to see Marsh Harrier and a Bittern in flight. I've also been for some walks around Frampton on Severn and Slimbridge WWT.

I will post again, especially if there are any badgers sighted, in the not too distant future. Watch this space!

Thursday 2/12/09 - Nothing to report...

2009-12-02T23:36:00.001Z

No updates for over a week, but unfortunately, nothing to update you on. The badgers have not been out when I've been at the hide for nearly three weeks. I had a good walk around the BOC last week and all three ditches that the badgers use to move around are all flooded. They can still walk down the field, but aren't doing that whilst I'm about. Over the weekend I found a log in the hedge and put it in front of the hide. I then put some peanuts under the log. I've been worried the badgers aren't turning up at all and I'm just feeding the local pheasants, so thought I'd put a little test out to see if the log is moved. Next day confirmed there were badgers accessing the area as they had dug under the log to get the nuts! Luckily it wasn't too deep or messy and proved that there are badgers still around. I wish I knew when!

I've been feeding most nights and watching occasionally, so as and when they return I will let you know.

Saturday 21/11/09 - Rain is an understatment!

2009-11-23T13:06:00.000Z

Having not managed to feed or watch last night due to being busy on other things, I am hoping to visit the hide this evening and maybe see some badgers. The weather today has been atrocious. When it rains like it has been yesterday and today, I am concerned about flooding. Our house flooded in 2007 and we had to move out for six months. It was't much fun and my heart goes out to the people in Cumbria and Southern Scotland who have unfortunately flooded during the last day, or so.

I've already walked the dog this afternoon in torrential rain. It must have been bad as he wanted to come home after only a short time! I was fully kitted up and, as I've mentioned before, I like a bit of weather so made him do the "normal" walk. I think he enjoyed it by time we got back home. Whilst out I was walking along the brook behind our house checking the levels, but things were looking OK. I came in and it was almost straight back out to visit the Barn Owl Centre. When I got there Vince was there on his own as the others had all gone out fund raising. We had a quick chat and I set off down to the hide. The rain seemed to be easing a little and the wind seemed less than it had been earlier. It was just about dark and I put the feed out, including a few for the mouse, and sat there listening to the wind and rain. The mouse did eventually show up, but not the badgers. That is a week now without seeing any at the hide. I'm sure they must be feeding still as it's not cold enough to keep them underground yet, although I wouldn't blame them for staying underground today!

After about an hour I call it a day, disappointed not to have seen any badgers. I see nothing on the way back up and, as the rain has now stopped, I consider walking around the farm trying to see if any badgers are out and about. However, I'm cold and it's getting close to dinner time! I end up back at the farm just as the fund raisers get back from Oxford. They've had a good day and I have a quick coffee whilst they tell us all about it. Off home for dinner then. I'm glad the rain has stopped.-

Thursday 19/11/09 - Another windy session

2009-11-20T00:33:00.000Z

I don't leave work until six tonight and I get down to the hide at about 6.30. I'm still feeding peanuts and Fruit and Fibre, but I've now run out of the fox/badger food. The food I put out every night is being eaten by something and I'm guessing the badgers are still visiting, just not when I'm about! The wind is really gusting again tonight, but at least it's dry. Due to the recent inactivity, I've dropped the net down tonight to hopefully give some confidence to any badgers that do turn up. The mouse is out and about soon after I arrive and is getting bolder than ever. He doesn't bother about me too much now, unless I make a loud noise or movement. I sit there in the dark waiting and listening, but the wind masks a lot of the noises I can normally hear. I don't mind the traffic noise being muffled somewhat, but I haven't been hearing any wild owls lately. Ironically I can hear a Little Owl calling in the night somewhere, but I'm not even sure which direction it's in. I glance at the time and half an hour has gone by already and no badgers still. I spend another half an hour waiting, but nothing appears outside the hide. This is the longest spell I've had without seeing a badger at the hide and I guess I was sort of expecting it at some point. I just didn't expect it whilst the temperature was still quite mild. As I clear the peanuts from the doorstep, the mouse is out and only about eighteen inches away. I move my hand close to the little guy and he doesn't seem worried at all. I get my hand within about four inches of the little animal before he drops behind the mesh on the front of the hide. He doesn't run even then, just waits there. That is the highlight of the evening and I make my way back to the farm. On the way back up I pick up some eyeshine in the torch beam. It's on teh main path and coming towards me and it's a badger. I stand still and wait as he approaches me, but about fifteen yards away he suddenly turns off the path and goes to the hedge. I can hear him moving throught the hedge and quietly follow him up towards the farm. When he gets to the gateway between the top and bottom field, he appears out of the hedge and trots across the path in front of me. So, they are still about, but not where I would like to see them; outside the hide! Vince is busy when I get back to the farm as they have a group of Girl Guides in the indoor flying area watching some owls being flown. I leave them to it and make my way home hoping for better luck over the weekend. I can't watch tomorrow, so Saturday is my next opportunity. Fingers crossed!

Tuesday 17/11/09 - A badger at last!

2009-11-20T00:16:00.000Z

I cannot watch the badgers tonight as I need to pick my daughter up at 7.00, but I go down there to feed at least. I like staying in touch with the place and go to feed when I can. Anyway, it's just gone six and I'm off down there in the dark to put some food out. Whilst walking down I see a badger working its way along a path. I stand and watch for a few seconds as he slowly disappears into the longer grass. Nice to see one outside of the feeding area. I continue down to the hide, feed and come back up without any more badgers. As I approach the farm, a Barn Owl flies through the hedge I'm walking along and I get a great view as he banks away from me and disappears back over the hedge. I always enjoy seeing owls, wild or otherwise and it makes up for not seeing the badgers so much lately.

I am only feeding again tomorrow, so no entry for then and hopefully back for watching on Thursday.

Monday 16/11/09 - An unsettled and unsettling night

2009-11-19T23:58:00.001Z

I have a visitor booked in this evening but I'm not feeling overly confident about seeing any badgers after the last couple of nights. Anyway, when I arrive at the BOC, I find out the visit has been cancelled. I'm slightly relieved if I'm honest, but decide to go and give it a good go on my own. It's been wet and windy again today, the reason for the cancellation I guess. I'm in the hide for 6.30 and have added some Fruit and Fibre cereal which has been in our cupboard for a while. You never know what might bring the badgers in! The mouse is out soon after I settle down and I enjoy watching him in the torchlight. I haven't seen any sign of a badger after half an hour, then an hour. I don't give up and give it an hour and a half, but to no avail. Fruit and Fibre doesn't draw the badgers in after all. I see nothing walking back up to the farm either, and I wonder what has happened to the badgers. It's not cold as yet and I think if I was a badger I would still be out feeding up for winter on whatever I could find. Maybe they are out and about, but not visiting the hide? Who knows, but I'll keep trying to track them down for now.

Sunday 15/11/09 - Another change in the weather

2009-11-19T23:48:00.000Z

I had been meaning to get to the BOC earlier this afternoon for a bit of a walk with the camcorder as you never know what you might see. By time I get there it is 4.20 and getting dark. I still go for a wander at the opposite end of the farm to where the hide is. I'm hoping to see a badger out and about. After a nice start this morning we've had a spell of rain this afternoon, but suddenly the wind has dropped to nothing, the sky is pretty clear and the temperature has dropped dramatically. As I wander around a heavy dew is forming and mist is rising from the ground in sheltered areas. I spend an hour wandering and although I stand and watch a well worn badger path for half an hour of that time, I see no badgers. I disturb a lot of Redwing, though. I go back up to the farm to collect some nuts and set off down to the hide. In the torchlight it looks like a frost is forming, but it is just the light shining on the heavy dew. It is quite misty as I approach the hide. Food out and I'm in the hide for 5.45. I see the mouse, but no badgers again. After an hour and a half I call it a night and make my way back up to the farm. Is this the start of the badgers not coming out every night? Not sure, but two no shows plus the inconsitencies of the last week, or so, is not a good sign.

Saturday 14/11/09 - A stormy day

2009-11-19T23:37:00.000Z

I fed the badgers last night but didn't stay and watch. It was pretty stormy when I walked down last night; dry at the time but very windy. Walking down there in the dark on my own I made sure I stayed out from under the large oaks, just in case! It was much the same walking down tonight. The wind had abated slightly, but still pretty rough. I had already been to the Barn Owl Centre today having bought 25kg of peanuts and 20kg of wild bird seed. I dropped them off and had a look at a computer issue they had. I came over a little earlier tonight, about 5.30, to see if any badgers were out early. They weren't. I stayed until about 7.10 and no sign of anything. Perhaps they don't like the wind?? Hopefully better luck tomorrow!

Thursday 12/11/09 - Two badgers and lots of rain

2009-11-19T23:04:00.000Z

It's been quite wet today and it doesn't look like stopping as I'm driving from work to the Barn Owl Centre. As I've got my work trousers on I have to put on waterproofs to keep the heavy drizzle and rain off them. Wellies as well as the grass will be soaking. Hat and fleece on the top half and I'm quite looking forward to setting off down the field in the rain. A quick chat with Vince, top up with peanuts and off into the wild night. I do quite enjoy the walk down and arrive at the hide warm and dry. Usual pattern of food out and I'm into the hide and apart from not putting my torch, camera and phone on the ledge at the front of the hide, due to the rain blowing in, and I settle in to see what will happen.

The mouse is out and about not long after I've stopped moving around and gathering the nuts I've left out for him. My favourite "game" is to put five nuts on the edge of the wood that surrounds the mulch floor of the hide. I then sit there in the dark listening for movement. When I think I've heard the mouse, I put a torch on and see how many nuts are left. Some nights he can get three or four before I even hear him. I know it sounds sad, but it can pass the time and it's nice to see him when I catch him out in the open. One time I put the torch on and there's not one, but two mice out! I didn't realise there were two on one side. I thought there was maybe one on each side. As I'm thinking this and watching, one mouse sets off and runs right around the perimeter of the floor and disappears out of the opposite corner to his mate! Perhaps they are separate and he's just helping out with the eating of the food.

In amongst all this excitement, a badger has appeared. He came from the left rear of the hide and he looks very wet! Badgers seem to look soaked to the skin when it's raining, but their thickening coat keeps them warm and dry. Before this badger is in the main area just in front of the hide, another approaches from the main path ahead of the hide looking equally wet. As they are not yet close, it's difficult to identify them, but they are now getting quite close. It turns out to be my usual pair, Margo and the Little One. As you can see from the picture, they are quite happy eating side by side and until I throw some additional nuts out there is no sign of agression. When I do throw some food out, a bit of argy bargy takes place, but only for a second or two. Margo loses this particular bout and starts sniffing around where the badgers have already been. As you know, I have been feeding some fox/badger food, like little dog biscuits, and it has been obvious that peanuts are their favourite food item as they will move through the area where the food is eating all the nuts. Once the nuts are gone, they will go back and eat the fox/badger food. Quite often, and my main reason for her name, Margo will pick up one of these biscuits and with her head held high, will trot off like a horse doing dressage looking very posh. Of course Margo, from The Good Life, was very posh and hence the name. I'm showing my age now, aren't I?

Margo showing her claws and looking wet

Anyway, back to the action. I've fed a couple of small handfuls of extras to the badgers and they are very close. They can smell the nuts on the doorstep and Margo is sniffing her way up towards them. The step is just the wrong height to eat the nuts without climbing up onto step and so she does. A great view of a wet animal and a strong waft of wet badger. I'm always amazed, and slightly unerved, at the sight of her claws as they look big and shiny. "My, what big claws you have!" She finishes the nuts and climbs down. As she moves away, the little one comes back across the front of the hide, nose to the ground as usual. It takes about ten minutes, but eventually both badgers vacate the feeding area and I can pack up, close up and walk up to the farm, in the rain.

Monday 9/11/09 - A lovely encounter

2009-11-16T23:23:00.000Z

Having discovered the badgers out early last night, it dawns on me that getting here before six isn't possible due to being at work. This was always a concern as the nights drew in and I'm not sure where it leaves me, or anyone wishing to join me watching the badgers. It may restrict it to the weekends only.

I'm fortunate tonight as I leave work early for a different reason, but it lets me get down to the Barn Owl Centre at around 5.30. I'm straight down to the hide and I'm ready to go with food out and one small torch on illuminating the area where the bulk of the food is. It seems 6.00 comes and goes in five minutes and no sign of a badger. 6.30 comes along and I've been entertained by the mouse stashing his food ready for those long winter nights when I may not be visiting. At 6.40, nearly an hour later than last night, a single badger appears from the left of the hide and he picks up a trail of nuts leading to the feeding area. At this distance, I'm not sure which badger it is, but as it draws closer I identify it as the smaller of the regulars. Not Margo. The badger is soon feeding confidently just in front of the hide and still moving closer. As he gets towards the end of the food I've put out, I whistle and throw some more nuts out to the badger. It immediately moves onto them and eats the lot! I do this again with similar results. For some reason the badger trots off to the right at this stage and it looks like he's gone for the evening. I give it a couple of minutes and then start to pack up. I'm knelt at the door sweeping the untouched nuts from the doorstep so I can close the door to the hide when I leave. I suddently realise the badger has returned coming right along the front of the hide and he reappears about two feet from me. I'm knelt in the middle of the doorway without my Buff covering my face with a badger two feet from me. I freeze. The badger comes across in front of the doorstep and begins eating the nuts I've been sweeping off the doorstep. Maybe a foot from my knees, he's happy eating peanuts. I decide to get brave and slowly move my hand into my coat pocket with a view to getting some more peanuts out. By now the badger has stopped eating and is watching me. I think he heard me first as my fleece, albeit very quietly, rustled with the movement. I whistle and move my hand towards the animal. He looks at me nervously, but only backs up a few inches. As I think he may run I drop the nuts and this seems to settle him down and he looks at the food. I withdraw my hand and he moves in right up to the doorstep. Eight inches from my knees which are resting against the inside of the doorstep. He finishes those nuts and looks up, expectantly. I whistle and this time drop the nuts on the doorstep. Again he backs up and looks like he's about to run. As soon as the nuts are down he takes an interest and moves closer. He then puts a paw tentativley onto the doorstep and lifts himself up. Here is a wild badger eating nuts off the doorstep between my knees! I can't believe how close he is and I'm grinning from ear to ear! Once he's finished the nuts he drops down and I try the same again. Unfortunately, he runs this time. I don't mind. What a fantastic thing to have experienced. This animal and Margo are real stars with the trust and bravery they show and I look forward to continuing to meeting them at every opportunity. I go back to the farm and then off home feeling pretty good. I can't watch tomorrow, only feed as I have a meeting to go to. Also, Wednesday is one of the nights I normally miss, although after tonight I could easily forget my other commitments for the next couple of nights, but that would be greedy, wouldn't it?

Sunday 8/11/09 - An early night

2009-11-15T15:18:00.000Z

Having "lost" the badgers over the last week, I've been struggling to find out where they are and what time, if at all, they are arriving at the hide. I thought they may have moved later, but unless they are very late I disproved this theory last night. Tonight I decide to go early to see if they've suddenly moved their visit to the hide to around dusk. This would make sense as this is their usual behaviour, up until a month ago, at least.

The "Stranger" on the Doorstep

I get down to the hide for about 5.20pm and put the food out for the badgers and a few nuts for the mouse. I settle in for a bit of a wait as I have about two hours before I need to be elsewhere. The mouse is out only a few minutes later and I occasionally flick a torch on to watch him collecting the nuts I've put down for him. I must admit, I am occasionally resting my eyes. Sat there on my chair in the dark, it's quite easy to let the eyelids drop, albeit only briefly. After one of these rests, I open my eyes to find a badger out in the feeding area. I quietly glance down at my mobile phone to check the time. 5.56pm. This is the earliest I've seen the badgers out and about and I'm relieved that they are still turning up at all. The badger has moved his way close to the hide and it suddenly glances up and looks at something. I follow his gaze and see another badger is approaching. Thie first badger is the larger of the two regulars I get so I'm expecting the new arrival to be the smaller animal. It isn't. This one looks like a male as his head is noticeably broader at the back giving him a larger, more agressive look. He is slightly bigger in the body too. The two badgers are soon feeding side by side the the remaining food rapidly disappears. It's quite cold tonight, about 4 degrees, and you can clearly see the badgers breath in the cold air as they exhale. I've got the stills camera ready and start to take some pictures. It's nice to get shots of the different badgers, ideally whilst looking at the camera. This is quite difficult as they constantly have noses to the ground unless they pause to listen or sniff for threats. When they do this, it's better not to move or take pictures as it can scare them off. Consequently I have lots of pictures of badgers, head to the ground. The exception is if they are on the door step when a clearer shot can be had because they are almost level with the camera rather than looking down on the animals. It's always good for animal pictures if they are taken at the same level as the animal rather than looking down on them.

Margo (left) and the "Stranger" (right)

I've surprised when first, my regular badger climbs onto the doorstep and begins feeding, but more so when the "stranger" approaches and also climbs onto the doorstep. This is quite exciting as two animals on the doorstep at the same time doesn't happen very often. I wait until they've cleared the doorstep and climbed down. I then whistle and throw the nuts a couple of feet landing them right in front of their noses. As expected, a bit of argy bargy takes place and the male animal wins. The other badger, who I will call Margo from now on, wanders off sniffing for food closeby. The male badger stays around and I manage, after whistling, to place some more food on the doorstep. He looks at me nervously as I do this and backs up a couple of paces, but as soon as I put the nuts down his courage returns. As I withdraw my hand he moves in and onto the step and eats the nuts. Magic! I try the same manoevre again but this time he does spook and trots off into the dark. During this little, intense exchange, I hadn't noticed Margo wandering off. So that's it for tonight, some really good views, two on the doorstep at the same time and a new badger feeding off the doorstep. I wander back up to the farm and have a quick chat with Vince and it's off home to a nice dinner and a glass of wine!

Badger Fact!

Badgers claws can be up to 1.5" long.

All Pictures Copyright

Coughs and colds and irregular badgers!

2009-11-11T13:24:00.002Z

I've not managed to post for a little while as I've had a cough and cold and have been feeling a bit under the weather. From 1st November after my last post I've had a cough and the sniffles and didn't watch on Monday, Tuesday or Wednesday. I did feed on Monday and Tuesday, but didn't on Wednesday when Vince did the feeding. Thanks Vince! I did go over for a while on Thursday, but started coughing and as it was November 5th it was pretty noisy anyway, I didn't see anything whatever the reason. Friday I fed, but it's my night out with the lads so I didn't watch. That brings me a little more up to date. On the nights I did feed, it was about the time the badgers normally turn up, around 6.30-6.40, but I saw no animals either at the hide or whilst walking there and back. With a very late show last Sunday I was concerned that the badgers had found a new route which didn't take in the hide until much later. Thursday's watch covered their normal time again and another no show. I thought about this and on Saturday decided to go over later, around 8.30, which is the time they arrived last Sunday.

Before going over to the hide I went to photograph the fireworks at Gloucester Docks. I enjoy my photography still, I just don't seem to have time to fit too much in. Unfortunately as the fireworks started, so did the rain. I don't mind the rain, but the wind was blowing right into my face, and consequently the lens. I spent more time trying to get waterdrops off the lens than actually photographing the fireworks. Once finished I set off for the Barn Owl Centre, a mile or so down the road.

I arrive at the hide at 8.20 and settle in. One dim light on, net partially down and food placed appropriately. I've brought a right feast for them tonight. I have a double helping of dog food mixed in with the small bits at the end of a box of Crunchy Nut Cornflakes (I don't like the small bits in the bottom of the box!). This, along with the usual helping of nuts and fox/badger food should entice them out, if there are any badgers about. I sit there expectantly with the distant sound of fireworks still going off all around. I also hear a pair of Little Owls calling, but they aren't close. I sit there until 9.30 and decide to call it a day. Another no show. I've got a few people interested in a badger watching session, but if I don't know when the animals are coming, it's a bit tricky to book anyone in. I'll have to try something different tomorrow...

Sunday 1/11/09 - Two guests on a bright, moonlit night

2009-11-05T14:04:00.000Z

I've been over to the Barn Owl Centre this afternoon doing some bits on the hide and buying some felt for the roof. After the horrendous weather this morning, some proper waterproofing in the roof is probably a good idea. My two paying guests, a mum and her daughter, turn up to have a look around the centre later on in the afternoon and I wander over for a chat. The mum is a keen wildlife photographer who travels all over the world, but whose favourite is Africa, and the daughter arranges wildlife safaris all over the world for a living and has just returned from three weeks in Africa herself. No pressure then! Having said that, both are very pleasant and seem quite excited about seeing a badger, hopefully up close. Last nights encounter would be nice!

Once dark, at around 5.45, we set off for the hide and chat quietly on the way down. Once at the hide, they take their seats whilst I put some food out in the feeding area and some of the doorstep, just in case! One small torch illuminates the area where most of the food is and as we have a full moon tonight, I drop the door net down to just over half way to reduce the amount of light entering the hide. We talk in whispers for a few minutes but eventually fall silent. The mouse hasn't shown itself yet, which is slightly odd, but then I see some movement outside the hide. A rat! He cautiously moves towards the food, but is very nervous and keeps darting back to the left side of the hide. He repeats this a number of times and gets a little further out each time. My visitors do see him, although a rat isn't what we are after. Mice aren't what we're after either, but once the rat stops appearing, hopefully because badgers are nearby, the mouse takes its turn. Regardless of whether mice are our targets, or not, it's nice to see and in the absence of any badgers, it's a lot better than nothing.

Seven o clock arrives and still no badgers, I can' t even hear any moving in the hedges nearby. We do hear both Little and Tawny Owls, but even they are distant. Some fireworks are also going off, but there was more last night and the badgers didn't seem to mind at all, so I doubt that is the hold up. When seven thirty arrives, I decide to tell them things aren't looking too good and it's up to them if we call it a night, or not. We decide to give it another ten minutes, or so. It seems a perfect evening; full moon, little to no wind and not too cold.Fifteen minutes go by, then twenty. We begin chatting in whispers when the daughter sees a badger out in the feeding area. Unfortunately, it runs off no sooner than we've seen it! That is a good sign, however. At least one badger is out and about. I explain that if one runs off, sometimes it appears from a different direction after a few minutes. We wait on.

After another fifteen or twenty minutes, a badger appears down the path to the left, clearly visible in the moonlight. I'm not sure what time it is as I'm too scared to pick up my phone and check in case I frighten the animal away! The badger moves towards us along the trail of nuts I leave leading into the main area. Soon it is feeding about four feet out from the hide and slowly working its way towards the door. This is one of my regulars, the slightly larger one. I'll have to give them names, I think. That will simplify things when explaining what they are doing. As she gets close to the hide, I whistle and throw some nuts out which she eats straight away. I only do this a couple of times as she's had quite a feast already eating all the food which was meant for two badgers. Now the only food left is on the doorstep and quite nervously, she takes some food from the step giving a wonderful, close-up view of this wild animal. She trots off shortly after this, but I think she'll be back. Within a minute, or two, she is and again approaches the step. Again, very nervously, she climbs onto the step and takes a bit more food, but again runs off. This time she doesn't come back and we begin packing up. Both guests seem very pleased with their encounter with a badger who was within a couple of feet of them. I'm pleased we had any sort of encounter at all as without my guest's persistence and patience, we may have packed up earlier and had a no show.

We get back up to the centre, discussing wildlife and birds from all round the world. Vince comes out and joins in, too. We have been down at the hide for nearly three hours, maybe a new record? Thanks to Mags and Katie for a good evening.

Wednesday 28/10/09 - A great night!

2009-11-04T23:28:00.001Z

It's been a nice afternoon here in sunny Gloucestershire and it's now turning into a pleasant autumnal evening. I arrive at the Barn Owl Centre at about 6.00pm straight from work. I'm relieved that I can still get here to see the badgers if I get away from work ontime. It is pretty dark by now but there is an almost clear sky and a bright moon shining, so not that dark really. As I walk across the car park I see a shooting star. A good omen?

The Support Act

I don't hang around once I get into the Centre now. It is a quick chat, pick up some food and off down to the hide. Although quite short, it's a nice walk down to hide, maybe four minutes. Tonight, with no wind and millions of stars and lots of autumny smells on the air, it is very pleasant. I get to the hide and no badgers out before me. I put the cameras, torches, etc, into the hide and come out to put the food out. A large bird table has been installed opposite the hide and I always wander over a put some nuts and badger/fox food onto this in the hope a fox will come along one night and jump up onto it. No luck yet, and it's too tall for a badger to access. As with last night, I put the net down tonight, just like the good old days. With some inconsistent showings last week and some badgers appearing which are not regular visitors meaning they are quite nervous, I've resorted to this for now. The views are almost as good and it still gives the opportunity for a photo or two, as you can see.

The first thing to show is the mouse. I only hear him at first as I don't illuminate the inside of the hide for obvious reasons. As it's all quiet outside the hide I decide to try and get a picture of the mouse. I move into his corner and put a diffused torch on, having already left some peanuts out for him. After the disturbance of me moving, it's not too long before he's back out. With the compact camera held down low and finger on the shutter release, as he appears I take a shot. It doesn't come out too bad and the flash doesn't bother him. He grabs a nut and runs off to stash it somewhere. A few minutes later, he's back and I manage another shot. He grabs another nut and disappears. I decide to leave him in peace and move back over as the badgers should be about soon. I've not been back in my usual position for more than a couple of minutes when I hear a badger eating. He's to the right of the hide and I can't yet see him, but he's there. As I watch, the badger moves into view coming towards the feeding area. I think he is a she and it's one of my regulars, the slightly larger of the two. Bearing in mind I haven't seen the smaller one for a few days now, I'm slightly concerned that something may have happened to the younger animal. As you see these animals more and more, you do become concerned if they don't show up for a while.

A Gorgeous Stripey Head

Out of the darkness, another stripey face is appearing. As it gets nearer, I can see it is the younger animal I have been worried about. That's good news! Back to my regular two tonight, unless any others appear. I'm quite happy with that, one is good enough for me. Having said that, with two, you do get the interaction and little things. like when the younger one first appeared, the other one stopped eating, turns around and has a good look to see who is coming. Once identified, feeding continues, possibly at a slightly quicker rate than before! With the two badgers there, the remaining food disappears at quite a rate; the loud crunching of the fox/badger food very noticeable. I whistle and throw some nuts out and immediately both badgers converge on the nuts and start pushing each other to get a better share. I do this a couple more times and the argy bargy continues each time. This pushing appears to be friendly and if one animal has a superior postition and blocks the other animal, there is no escalation of violence; the other animal will begin sniffing around looking elsewhere for its food. I stop feeding and the badgers separate and sniff intently around the feeding area looking for anything that's been missed. They keep coming back to the door and I swear they are looking at me as though to say "Go on, give us a bit more" At one point the younger badger lies out straight with his head on his paws! It looks so comical, I almost give in and feed him some extras, but I don't. The one badger has drifted off up towards the main path and the younger animal sniffs around for a while and eventually disappears to the right of the hide. A lovely evening with some great company!

Badger Fact

A badger can dig faster than a man with a spade, allegedly.

Saturday 31/10/09 - Halloween, but no ghosts, only badgers and a mouse!

2009-11-03T14:42:00.001Z

Due to being very busy at the moment, I haven't been updating the blog as regularly as I should. I have been over to see the badgers but to update the more recent sightings, I've missed a few days out. To summarise, the big event, as far as I was concerned was the clocks changing. This moved everything the badgers do to an hour earlier as, obviously, they don't change their ways the same as we do. That was what I thought, anyway. It turns out the badgers have moved to around an hour earlier, but they have been all over the place with regard to timings. Also, I've had the odd visit from a badger who I don't normally see and who is consequently quite nervous of our usual format for watching the badgers. Badgers have been turning up from about half six, which means I can just about get there straight from work. However, they have been coming out quite late some nights, up to 8.00 o clock. I'm sure this doesn't have anything to do with the changing of the clocks, but they are acting a little inconsistently at the moment. Anyway, back to what is actually happening.

My wife, Juliet, accompanies me down to the hide this evening. Both kids are out and we take the opportunity to share the badger watching. I've been promising to take her out for weeks! Due to the bridge over the canal near the centre being closed, we have to take the long way around and I arrive at the centre a little later than planned. Once in, we have a quick chat with the regulars, and Karen is there too. She has been out fundraising in Cheltenham today as a volunteer. If you think you can help in any way at the Barn Owl Centre, please give them a ring.

Juliet and myself get down to the hide just after six and we sit quietly in the dark. I say quietly, but traffic noise and fireworks seem to be ever present tonight with some fireworks going off quite close to the centre. Still, it doesn't take long for the mouse to appear and start claiming the peanuts I've put down for him. He is highly entertaining, darting around and at one point he runs between my feet! At 6.30 the first badger arrives. Due to a bright moon, I've partially lowered the net over the doorway to stop us being lit up so much. The badger doesn't notice us, however, and he moves closer to the hide. A second badger comes along about ten minutes later and is soon alongside the first. My two regulars. With the badgers now trying to fatten up for winter, when food will be a lot more scarce, and the fact their coat is appearing to get thicker, they are both looking a lot bigger now than a month ago. The badgers don't seem to mind the fireworks either and both are now near the door step. The larger of the two makes a move first and puts its paws up onto the step. I'm using a torch to illuminate the animal at this range as the torch outside doesn't have much effect at this close range. The two badgers don't mind and after the first badger clears the step, I whistle and throw some food out to distract them. I then put some more food onto the step and the second badger now has its turn. The food I put on the step was very close to me but the badger moves in and begins eating about a food from both the torch I'm holding and my free hand. As this extra helping of food is finished off, I try and put some more food on the step, but one of the badgers sees my hand and trots off. I stop feeding now and after a few minutes the other badger disappears into the dark. Another really good evening for seeing the badgers up close and always nice to see the mouse. Good to share with someone, too!

Tuesday 20/10/09 - Guests in tonight, what will they see?

2009-11-02T22:52:00.000Z

After some heavy rain this afternoon, the weather has cleared up a little so it doesn't look too bad for my two guests this evening. I meet Kath and Wayne at the Barn Owl Centre at about 6.45pm and we have a quick chat, about badgers, of course. Kath has seen them before, but Wayne has only seen the unfortunate ones by the side of the road. He has brought his camcorder along to see if he can get some footage. Armed with several torches, lots of nuts and some badger/fox food, we set off for the hide. It is quite windy and, due to the cloud cover, quite dark already. As we are approaching the hide, a Barn Owl flies out from one of the trees across the field. It isn't a great view due to the low light, but the white underside is clearly visible. On arrival at the hide I get them seated, get some food out and put up a torch shining onto the ground a metre in front of the hide doorway. I put some food onto the doorstep just in case we are lucky enough to get a badger really close. I don't put the net down all the way, just use it to restrict a bit of the light reflecting from the clouds. It's 7.00pm.

Recently, the badgers have been arriving around 7.20pm and this time comes and goes. As does 7.30. At 7.40, a badger approaches from the left hand path, but it keeps close to the long grass not coming into the feeding area at all and trots off behind left of the hide. I'm hoping he'll reappear from the right side of the hide as this is one of their usual tricks. Fifteen minutes later, he's not reappeared. At around 8.00pm a badger shows from the main path working his way down the line of nuts I left on the way in. He gets to within four or five metres, but then turns and trots off the way he came. This isn't looking good. I decide that I will put a less intense light up. I'm using the same LED torch as Sunday night, but it does look bright out there tonight. I use an identical torch, but with a flash gun diffuser over it to reduce the intensity and I hope that may give the badgers a bit more confidence.To keep our spirits up, the mouse has appeared and at least this little animal is confidently strolling around the floor of the hide, picking up and running off with peanuts I put down earlier. We must have been sat very quietly because this is the most active I've seen the mouse who at times comes very close to our feet.

I'm just beginning to think that we may have a no show when the smaller of the two regulars appears from the right side of the hide. He moves across the front of the hide and onto the bulk of the food. He sits there happily eating and slowly moves closer to the hide. I'd put a bit more food out than normal, expecting two animals and not throwing as many extras as normal out after the main course was over. This means with one animal doing all the eating, progress is slow. At one point he trots off to the left of the hide, but it looks like a "temporary trot off" rather than a "goodnight, I'm gone trot off". Thankfully he reappears, further out and quickly sniffs his way back into the main feeding area, about three feet from the door. At this point I decide to throw some nuts out to try and tempt him nearer the door, so I whistle, throw a few nuts out and he immediately comes over to where they've land and begins eating. That seems to work and as I'm slowly and carefully getting some more food from my pocket, the mouse does a rather loud sprint across the floor, kicking up some of the bark and making quite a noise. The badger looks towards the sound and trots off. This time it is a "goodnight, I'm gone trot off". I don't think he'll be back. I let the others know but we decide stick it out for another five minutes. Unfortunately, I was right and the badger doesn't reappear. We decide to make a move and after sitting quietly for over an hour and a half, we get up to stretch our legs. I carefully check outside to make sure nothing is about, collect my things and we walk back up to the farm. Again, on the way back we see a Barn Owl in the darkness leaving a tree and flying off across the field. Twice in one night is good, I've not seen the Barn Owl very often, but we did tonight.

Back at the farm and we all have a chat about wildlife encounters and then my two visitors leave seemingly well satisfied with their evening. It was a bit touch and go for a while, but the badgers came through in the end, thankfully!

Sunday 18/10/09 - Showing my hand too early?

2009-11-02T22:46:00.001Z

After a great night last night I set off with high hopes this evening. I'm down at the hide just after seven with food out (and some in for the mouse). I settle in and almost straight away I hear the mouse moving around. I put a torch beam down into the corner of the hide and it isn't long before I can see him moving around just outside the netting which covers the front of the hide. As the door opens outwards, the mouse is still protected pretty well as it comes back against the wall he uses. I watch him for a few minutes as he takes the peanuts and runs off with them. I think this is one mouse that won't be hungry this winter!

A lovely shot of a badger feeding on the doorstep

The first badgers shows at about 7.30 and he catches me by surprise as one minute there is nothing out there and suddenly a badger is six feet from me. He is eating quite happily and moving into the circle of light that my small torch is illuminating. The light doesn't seem to bother the badgers at all nowadays. When I replace the batteries, the whole area is lit up like Wembley Stadium and they can act very nervously then. I normally use a small flashgun diffuser to soften and reduce the light when batteries are new. I've tried various lighting options and one of the small LED lights is still the least intrusive, but adequate options. My trusty handheld rechargeable LED is getting a bit tired in the battery longevity now, but the badgers don't seem to mind this one either. Luckily, nor does the mouse.

A badger moves in for a closer look

A second badger has appeared from the path to the left and is soon alongside the first badger. This is my regular duo and as the food diminishes, I whistle and throw some more out. A bit of argy bargy and a smile in the dark. Both animals are now very close to the doorstep and the smaller animal is the first to make a move. He confidently feeds off the doorstep and after last nights success I "show" him my hand as I feed. The looks slightly alarmed, but only backs up a step or two after the whistle signals some food is on its way. I drop the food onto the door step and he is moving onto the step straightaway. The second badger is now showing an interest in the door step area too. Again, I whistle and move my hand into clear view. The larger animal takes one look and trots off to the right. The younger animal stops and stares as I place some more peanuts onto the doorstep. He moves in and eats them. I decide to try again, this time with the camera in the other hand. I whistle and move my hand into plain view. He looks at my hand and this time moves towards it. In the picture, above, you can see the badger moving towards my hand ready for the nuts to be released. Although it doesn't look that close in the picture, he got within about six inches of my hand before I bottled it and released the food and withdrew my hand. Wow, that was exciting! I stop feeding at this point and the grin doesn't fade as I wait for the badgers to vacate the feeding area so I can leave the hide without scaring them. The grin is still there as I get back to the farm and tell my little tale to Vince.

Badger Fact

A female badger uses "delayed implantation" when mating. This allows the female to mate at any time and if eggs are fertilised she can put them "on hold" until the correct time of year ensuring she will not only have cubs, but will have them at the prime time of year.

All pictures copyright

Saturday 17/10/09 - A busy night

2009-10-26T22:15:00.002Z

Looking forward to getting over to visit the badgers this evening as I've not made it for the last three nights due to other places I needed to be. I did manage to feed on two of those nights, so still feel I'm getting some contact with them, if only leaving my scent behind!

On my own in the hide, food out, including some Fox and Badger Food (what is says on the tin), and net up and anticipating what may turn up tonight. First thing to show is the mouse. He's getting bolder now and coming out into the middle of the floor to investigate any dropped peanuts, of which I always ensure there's at least a few there. Not long after, a badger appears from the main path and heads for the open door of the hide outside of which the bulk of the food I put out is placed. It finds some of the badger and fox food, a bit like small dog biscuits, and starts crunching one up. What a racket! Crunch, crunch, crunch!

The badgers have followed the dusk from 10.30 at night in July down to about 7.20 fairly consistently until about a week, or so back. They are still turning up at about 7.20 although it is quite dark at this time now. I'm guessing they have reached their "early limit" and won't follow the earlier dusk any more. Is this a normal pattern for some badgers to take? Not sure until I've learnt a lot more than I know already...

The Little One!

A second badger has appeared and both are now close to the hide. Amazingly, the mouse is still out collecting his food and from my perspective, he is sometimes less than two feet from the much bigger animals, who aren't adverse to eating a small rodent, or two, given the opportunity! The mouse, of course, is inside the hide and the badgers aren't so he is safe from them for now. I start feeding a few extras to the two badgers outside. I hear a Little Owl call from close by. I tend to hear the Little Owls around dusk rather than into the night, but on the odd occasion they are very active and vocal on into the dark. I sit there, smiling, as I watch the two badgers just outside the hide and the mouse running around inside the hide. It's about now that a sudden noise on the roof grabs my attention. Sat there in the dark with the noise of the badgers eating and sniffing, a sudden noise this close by certainly wakes me up. Scratchy steps take a wander around the roof and I assume it must be the Little Owl I heard earlier. He stays for a minute then flies off, although I don't see him. I suppose it could have been anything, but an owl is most likely. For that minute I'm sat there watching the two badgers, the mouse and listening to the footsteps on the roof! Good fun.

He likes that new badger food!

The badgers start investigating the food on the doorstep and are soon, individually, eating off the step. I take some pictures and try and put a bit more food on the step. The badgers are now watching my hand appear from the darkness inside the hide, but a whistle and the appearance of food makes them inquisitive rather than scared. One does trot off, but the younger animal doesn't; he just watches. Once my hand is clear, he moves in and eats the nuts. The other animal is back already so the sight of my hand presumably didn't scare him too much! If I can get them used to movement and a bit of rustling of clothes, that will only help when visitors are present. I stop feeding at this point; they've had enough of my food and need to get out and find some more natural snacks to eat. I wander back up to the farm and after a quick chat, it's home to a glass of wine and feet up.

Badger Fact!

During the autumn, badgers spend a great deal of time feeding
to build up their fat reserves ready for the coming winter

All pictures copyright

Thursday 15/10/09 - A wet night

2009-10-22T00:04:00.000+01:00

The weather this evening is pretty horrid. Heavy, soaking drizzle is falling with heavier rain falling every so often. Oh well, you've got to get on and do the things you enjoy. As someone once said, "It's never the wrong weather, only the wrong clothes". Off down to the hide, peanuts in my coat pockets and a torch or two to hand. Due to the weather it is pretty dark already, although it's barely 7.00pm yet. The drizzle is making it quite foggy, it seems very gloomy out here, but in all honesty, I like a bit of "weather" and this is certainly a bit of weather. Now the roof is on the hide it's a lot cosier in there now. Don't get me wrong, the front wall is still mesh with a scrim net over and as the roof hasn't been felted, water still drips in between the sheets of wood. At least the rain doesn't fall directly onto my head as it used to.

A rather wet badger!

Food out, some on the doorstep and a single torch on, a couple of nuts down for the mouse and I settle down, contented at being out there and not getting wet, a bit like sleeping in a tent when it's raining. About 7.20 and I hear the mouse out and about. I shine the torch down into the corner and there he is, little eyes twinkling in the light. I wonder if he appreciates the roof as much as I do? I check outside and a single badger is coming down from the main path towards the hide. As he draws closer, you can see he looks soaked. When you are only that high and walking through long, wet grass, I guess you do get rather wet. He looks quite happy feeding on nuts and dog food, though. Eventually he is right outside the hide and I whistle and throw a few extra nuts out. As he's on his own tonight he has already had a good feed, so I don't offer too many extras. Once I've stopped, his nose draws him onto the door step for the final few nuts. He moves along the doorstep getting ever closer to me and is eventually only a foot away from me. The think a wet dog smells bad, try a wet badger! He finishes off the door step nuts and then sits down and looks at me as though saying "where are the extras tonight, then?". I can't resist and whistle and throw a few more out. Now at this point, the mouse may be jealous at me feeding the extra nuts to the badger as he suddenly sprints across the hide floor scattering wood chips in all directions. This makes quite a noise and with one look the badger races off into the night. Thanks mouse!

I don't think the badger will be back so collect my things up, shut up the hide and make my way back. Whilst walking back up, I realise that I haven't seen badgers on the way back up for a little while now. It used to be a regular occurence and I wonder why? Perhaps they have changed their route to make the best of autumn foods, maybe they are learning to avoid me? Not sure which, but I did enjoy seeing them out there with no hide or anything between us and hope this will start up again at some point.

Badger Fact!

Badgers normally have two or three cubs in a litter.

Wednesday 14/10/09 - Coughing and badgers don't mix

2009-10-19T23:30:00.002+01:00

I was unable to watch the badgers last night, but did manage to get over and feed them. I didn't see anything whilst there last night, so nothing to report for Tuesday.

Tonight, when I'd normally miss watching the badgers, I decide to go over with my dad seeing as I'd not watched last night and he is happy to pop over every now and then. We get down to the Barn Owl Centre and say our hellos to Vince and Juliette. Pick up some nuts and off down to the hide. I always enjoy the anticipation of approaching the hide, wondering what I may see tonight. Will it be something spectacular like six or seven badgers, or the more usual two? I really don't mind. If the badgers turn up and I can sit and watch for half an hour, I'm happy!

A Great View!

I position my dad sat a couple or three feet back into the hide, square on to the door. I sit to the right of the door as usual. Food out, single torch on illuminating an area a metre out from the hide and the wait begins. This is when I discover that my dad has a bit of a cough! He clears his throat a couple of times, but the urge grows and he has to have a full blown cough. That will keep the badgers at bay! This happens every five or ten minutes and the time ticks by. Eventually he seems to get it under control and, much later than normal, at 7.50, a badger turns up from the left path. I've put new batteries in the torch tonight and it is very bright. The animals doesn't get into the feeding area before it trots off towards the hedge on the left and behind the hide. I decide to take down the torch fearing the badgers find it too bright. As it's a bit overcast this evening, the light reflecting off the street lights and the city in general and consequently the ambient light levels are quite high. You would certainly notice a badger out in the grass area in front of us. Another badger appears from the main path and is heading for the door of the hide. Good. I'm now waiting for my dad to cough again, but he seems to have it under control now. We only get one badger this evening, but he does come up and feed off the doorstep in the end. We get some nice views, but as he's the only one, I don't feed any additional food. It takes about ten minutes, but eventually the badger wanders off. We pack up and after a brief chat, it's home to a nice cup of tea!

Badger Facts!

There are eight different species of badgers. We have the Eurasian Badger (Meles Meles) in the UK which is where this species is most common in all of Europe.

All Pictures Copyright

Monday 12/10/09 - A first for me!

2009-10-18T14:38:00.000+01:00

The sky looks fantastic as I drive off down to the Barn Owl Centre. The setting sun is lighting the few clouds up from below and it looks great. Within five minutes I'm driving up to the centre along the drive and I see a Little Owl sat on one of the large trees near the drive. I stop and take a bit of video, although I don't get that frame filling shot I'd like with only a 12x optical zoom, it's unmistakably a Little Owl. I keep considering buying a supplementary telephono lens that screws into the front of the camcorder for a bit more "reach", but don't know how well they perform. Does anyone use one? Leave me a comment with your thoughts.

As I'm getting out of the car, Vince turns up and he wanders over and we chat about the owl. He's still there, watching us. He suddenly flies off and almost immediately another comes from behind us and follows the first. He must have been sat on one of the barns. Vince and myself wander into the centre and I pick up several handfuls of nuts which go into my coat pockets. I set off for the hide, camcorder in hand, and as I'm walking across the flying area, I hear a Little Owl calling, followed by a second a bit further away. The closer one isn't too far away and appears to come from the next field. I change course and go out of the top of the flying area and hear the owl again. He must be sat on one of the natural perches put there for the centre's birds to perch on. Without the benefit of having the sky behind it, I can't make it out too well, but as I get closer I can see it. It doesn't hang around as I approach, and flies off into the dusk. I walk out of the field into the lower field where I normally start to leave a few nuts and as I do so, a Tawny Owl calls close by. I look around and get a great view of a wild Tawny flying over the field with the darkening, but spectacular sky behind it. That's two species of owl in less than three minutes! The Tawny flies into a tree the other side of the field and calls. I almost go over to see if I can get a better view, but with the light as it is, the badgers could turn up soon.

I continue on down to the hide and put the food out, giving the odd whistle as I do so. No dogfood tonight, my dog hadn't been fed when I left! As a substitute, I found a slightly out of date jar of peanut butter the other day and have been meaning to bring it down. Thinking I'd be well prepared, I brought a plastic fork down to dish some up, but it's not man enough and breaks! I look around and see the piece of wood I use as a doorstop. That'll do. I stick it in the jar and put some peanut butter onto the grass in front of the hide and, of course, some on the doorstep. I now have a stick with peanut butter all over the end of it and I'm not sure what to do with it. I decide to put it just outside of the door; perhaps a badger will lick it clean? I'm not putting the net down at present, so sit a couple of feet back in the hide on a chair. I have a single torch setup outside of the hide, as per usual and I'm just settling down, camcorder and torch in hand. I hear something down in the left hand side of the hide; the mouse is out and about. I put the torch on briefly and there he is,eyes twinkling. I decide to take some film, if he cooperates. I put the light on and he doesn't run away, so begin filming. Positive ID please, if you look at the video! Field or Wood? I check outside and a badger is approaching from the main path. I sit contentedly listening for the mouse and watching the badger get closer. Suddenly some movement catches my eye. A silent, ghostly figure passes the hide; a Barn Owl. I quickly stand up so I can watch him disappear into the dark. He was definitely hunting, head down, quite slow progress and a stunning view. They always seem to light up, even in the dark, but it's not quite dark yet and he looked magnificent. The badger was still far enough away not to scare when I stood up, although he did stop and look hard for a few seconds.

That is a first for me; three species of owls in less than half an hour. I've never seen three species of owls in the wild in a day before, probably a week! There's one of those natural highs I mentioned a few weeks ago. Well worth the time invested in sitting alone in the dark!

The badger is now close by and happily eating nuts. He's approaching the blob of peanut butter and as he reaches it, he doesn't even sniff, just wolfs it down. It's true, they do like peanut butter! A second badger has appeared from the left of the hide, quite close already. He walks across the front of the hide and starts feeding, only a foot or two out. He looks to be making up for lost time as the other has been there for ten minutes already. He moves towards the door and discovers my peanut butter covered stick. He sniffs it and looks slightly puzzled. He then picks up the stick and trots off with it! I peer round to the left of the hide, but he's not in sight. A minute or two later, he's back, but without my door stop.

I now begin throwing additional nuts out to them and a bit of argy bargy takes place. I whistle and feed several times and then stop. They both now sniff around and the smaller one finds the nuts and butter on the doorstep. He licks the one smear of butter, then starts on the nuts. A third badger has appeared and it makes its way over to the door where the other two are. I manage to get some more nuts onto the doorstep and the larger of the first two badgers smells them, then starts eating them. The newcomer is showing an interest in the doorstep too and as the other one departs, he moves in and sniffs where some peanut butter was. There must be a bit on the camo netting as he starts to tug at it. As the netting is stapled to the step, he has to pull pretty hard and you can see just how powerful these animals are. He does eventually manage to pull some netting off and I worry he may eat it. He doesn't, he just drops it and then carries on sniffing around. One of the other badgers has already left and the other is almost out of sight on the main path. The newcomer sniffs his way towards the hedge to the left and suddenly, I'm on my own. I pack up the torches and camera, check outside to make sure nothing has come back and step outside. I can't see my stick, so have a bit of a search for it and it's gone. It's either been taken into the hedge or he's eaten it!

That was a special evening what with the owls and three badgers, all of which were feeding at the doorstep. Back to the farm and a quick chat over a coffee. A wild Tawny is now in the usual place in the tree behind the aviaries. But it's time for me to go, so I head off home feeling a little less stressed than I was.

Sunday 11/10/09 - A cold, clear night

2009-10-12T23:03:00.074+01:00

After some drizzle this morning, the day has brightened up with a nice, sunny afternoon. As I went to the BOC yesterday, I don't go over this afternoon, but do get over after dinner for the badgers. I get there a little earlier than of late and I am soon in the hide, dog food and nuts in place, including the doorstep, one small torch on and we're into the wait. That clear afternoon has turned into a clear evening, with a definite Autumnal chill in the air tonight. The mouse is out down in the front left hand corner of the hide and I occasionally put the torch on him. The tiny little creature is fantastic, so quick to move. I chuck a nut, or two, down for him and it's great to see him go over to it, pick it up and turn and leave the hide to go and stash it somewhere. A single badger has appeared from the main path and is coming towards the hide. I happen to be looking at the tree opposite the hide when a sudden, white streak goes right across the sky; a shooting star and a good one at that! For a second I thought it may reach the ground, but it didn't.

A nice wet nose

Back to the badgers. They are now feeding closeby and I'm getting some great views. With nuts on the doorstep, I'm eagerly awaiting the moment when they sniff out the food and climb onto the step and start feeding right in front of me. I've already started throwing some additional food down and the usual tussle takes place, a bit of pushing and shoving trying to get a bigger share of the food. Fun to watch.

The badgers are now looking bigger than they were only a couple of weeks ago. I guess they are eating as much as possible to fatten up a little for winter, which from the temperature in the hide, is only just around the corner. Badgers don't hibernate like the Hedgehog or Dormouse does; it may be less active through the winter and stay underground for several days at a time, but doesn't actually slow its body down and sleep through the cold months. I am interested to see how the badgers here react over the winter, bearing in mind I only started watching them back in July. I haven't watched them through a winter as yet, but intend to be out as much as I can keeping an eye on things and hopefully seeing them from time to time.

The last nut!
The smaller badger is now eating off the doorstep. I'm sat on a chair, but am leaning forwards and my head is no more than eighteen inches from the badgers head. Every now and then he pauses, looks at me and sniffs the air, but keeps eating. Once the nuts are gone I throw a few more out and whilst it is sniffing and eating, I place some more on the step. He's back straightaway and with the torch on him he looks immaculate. A beautiful animal in lovely condition.

I stop feeding now. The second badger has been sniffing around the feeding area, but has wandered off already. The smaller one is hovering around in front of the hide, hoping for some more food, but I don't offer any more. He has a sniff around in ever widening circles and ambles off looking for food of a more natural variety. I check nothing is outside and step out, remove the torch hanging off the front of the hide, check I've left nothing behind and shut the door. I always leave a few nuts when I leave in case other badgers appear. I walk back up to the farm with a torch on tonight. As it is clear, with no moon and no light reflecting off the clouds its difficult to make out the path clearly and I always fear I might step on a badger by accident! I hear movement in the hedge on the way back up, but see nothing. Once back at the farm, a cup of coffee and a chat with Vince and Juliette and a wild Tawny turns up calling from the tree nearest the aviaries. Always nice to hear, better to see, but not tonight. He's there, quite close, but stays within the tree. Maybe tomorrow night?

Badger Fact!

Badgers have a gestation period of 7–8 weeks and give birth to 1-5 offspring

All Pictures Copyright

Saturday 10/10/09 - A sunny afternoon at the Centre

2009-10-12T23:02:00.000+01:00

It's been a busy few days for; Wednesday I was back late from work, too late to even go over and feed. Thursday I had a meeting at 6.30, but did manage to get over and put the food out. When I arrived, Vince mentioned that they were "down there" putting the roof on. I wandered down, and they were! I put the food around whilst they were still working. It looks a bit more waterproof now! Friday night I was out, but again managed to feed the badgers before I went out, but didn't stay.

So, Saturday is here and it's a lovely day. I decide to have my visit to the Barn Owl Centre today and after taking my daughter to her job for 12.30, I'm straight to the BOC. When I arrive a photography day is taking place. There are six or eight photographers in the lower field and at present they are working with Leighton, the Buzzard. I meet Karen and her brother. We all enjoy nature so we sit there in the sun talking about all sorts of things. Occasionally a Buzzard, or two, spirals over, calling. We also see a Jay, which I've not seen here before. The photography day participants come back up for a break and Leighton too. Everyone, including Rob, the handler, disappears into the aviaries leaving Leighton out in the flying area. He looks around for a worm, but finding nothing he flies to the telegraph pole that supports one of the CCTV cameras and sits up there looking around. This is the level of trust you can see with some of the birds. When Rob comes back out, Leighton dutifully comes back down to a post, then the glove, and he's off for a well earned rest. The next bird due out is Turner, one of the Eagle Owls. He will be taken down to the wild flower meadow to offer some interesting shots to the photographers. There are now about ten or twelve visitors here, so Vince brings them down to see Turner doing his stuff for the photographers. It's a wonderful image, the Eagle Owl flying over the colourful flowers and perching on an old stile amongst the flowers. Vince takes us back up to the flying area and he is going to fly Kaln, one of the other Eagle Owls. This bird is always impressive to see flying and on such a lovely day makes his colours even more spectacular. Kaln keeps looking down to where he can hear Turner being flown. Eventually he has to go and take a look and flies down to the big Oak near where Turner is flying. These two birds are happy flying together, so this isn't a problem. Vince calls him and the big owl flies back up. He is flown close to the visitors and Vince keeps the information coming. It's quite funny that if he talks for a little too long without getting Kaln to fly for a snack, he's off down to the bottom field again. As ever, he returns when called and glides back into the flying area.

The photographers are now coming back up and stop off to take some pictures of Kaln. Vince gets some of them led down in the grass on their bellies and flies Kaln right over the top of them. I'm not sure if any got a decent shot, but it looked good! After a while trying these shots, they are off to do some static shots of owls in the barn; nice natural looking pictures of our native owls.

At this point I go for a wander around the nature reserve. I spend a pleasant couple of hours wandering around with both the camcorder and the SLR with the 50-500mm Sigma, just in case. You never know what you might see. It's good excercise too! When I come back up, the photographers are still there and Vince is just getting Ron, the Golden Eagle out. Ron is still very much in training and on a line. He is flying from glove to post and back, but only over a short distance; a couple or three yards. This is good progress since May when he arrived with the ultimate aim to be able to fly him free like some of the other birds. With the late afternoon sun on him, he looks fantastic. You can see where Golden Eagles get their name! Back home for dinner now, but back in a bit for badgers.

Saturday 10/10/09 - Back over for the badgers

2009-10-12T13:47:00.000+01:00

Tea eaten and I'm on my way back over to see if any badgers are about this evening. I load up with food and I'm off into the night. Whilst walking down, I can hear a distant Tawny calling and a little closer a heron is also saying "goodnight". A little further on and I see something fly from a tree nearby. I think it's a Tawny, but it's closely followed by another and I get a better view of this one; Little Owls. This is confirmed as they start calling from the tree they flew to. I arrive at the hide and no badgers in sight. Good. I thought I was a bit late, but obviously not. As I'm putting the food out, a strange noise comes from the tree opposite the hide. It's too dark to see anything, but a low chattering noise is coming from something in there. I guess it is another Little Owl, but I'm not sure.

I keep an eye on the tree to see if I spot anything flying out, but before long, first one badger, then a second appear from the main path. Two arriving together isn't the usual pattern, but I don't mind, the badgers are here. The net is up, I have no cameras tonight so I just settle down to watch. I've put some nuts on the doorstep as well as the ones outside on the grass. The badgers are eating nuts (I forgot the dog food) quite contentedly and continue to work their way towards the hide. Once most of the nuts have gone, I begin to feed some extra food with both badgers rushing to the sound of nuts hitting the ground. The usual pushing match ensues and then they are looking for another handout, literally sat side by side waiting for the whistle and nuts. I do oblige after a few seconds and they tuck into the new offerings with relish. I continue this for a few minutes and then stop. They wander round, nose to the ground, and eventually discover the doorstep. One badger, the smaller one, puts one paw onto the step and eases himself up and begins eating. As he moves along the step, both paws are now on it. He is about a foot from my legs and hands. Once he's finished he steps down and continues sniffing around for more, but that's it for tonight. After another ten minutes, both badgers have left the feeding area so I pack up and head back to the farm. I see another badger on the way back, but not close. A quick chat with Juliette and off home to spend the rest of my evening in a more traditional manner!

Tuesday 06/10/09 - Rain, badgers and mice

2009-10-09T13:45:00.000+01:00

It's been raining most of the day today and it looks like it's going to continue into the evening. Vince mentioned last night that a roof was going onto the hide today, so that will be a relief. I'm meeting a friend, Karen, at the Barn Owl Centre tonight. She has been over to see the badgers a couple of months back and is keen to see them again. I arrive at the centre and Karen is already there. As there is a new roof on the hide, I don't take waterproofs with me and I've forgotten my wellies. We go on into the Centre and have a chat with Vince. "Hows the roof looking?". "Didn't happen" says Vince "it's been raining!". We could go back to the car for waterproofs, but they are noisy and it is quite dark. We decide to set off so we load up with some nuts and into the rain-filled dusk we go.

The chairs are all wet, as you'd expect, and after putting the food out, plus setting up one light, we sit down and the slightly uncomfortable wait begins. I've left the net up again. If I can get the badgers feeding confidently with other people here and the net up, the experience is that much better. We can hear a single Tawny Owl in the distance, but that is about all. Sometimes when it has been wet, the badgers do arrive later than usual and tonight is no exception. Twenty five minutes after we arrive, at 7.40, the first badger appears. Before the first badger is in the main feeding area just in front of the hide, a second appears from the main path and both are heading our way. As we have low cloud and therefore a reasonable amount of reflected light off the clouds, as the first badger moves closer he may have spotted us and trots off. Within a few minutes it is back, but I switch on my torch and leave it on the step as it helps to darken the area behind the torch. Before long the animals are feeding only a couple of feet away and I think the rain is stopping! I have already put some food onto the step. It would be good if Karen could see them feeding off the step as the view is great. You can see their claws to begin with as these are normally hidden in the grass. I whistle and throw some nuts out and the animals respond to the sound of the food hitting the floor. We witness a bit of argy bargy, but nothing too strenuous. With the animals now right outside the hide, one of them smells the nuts on the step and climbs up to eat them. That is pleasing as there are two of us sat in the doorway, only a couple of feet away, if that, and the badger is contentedly eating food right there in front of us. Once I have them feeding off the step, I try and put addtional nuts on the step to see if they will come back. With the badgers very close to the step I throw a few nuts out to distract them and whilst their heads are down I put some more nuts on the step. This works quite well and at times my hand is only a foot from the badgers. As an experiment whilst an animal is actually feeding off the step, I move my hand towards it. I can get quite close to it and as I've now picked up the torch and am holding it, my hand is illuminated in the torchbeam. The badger can see my hand, but continues eating and I do get my hand less than a foot from the badger. They don't seem to mind this intrusion, which is great.

Once I feel we have fed the two animals enough, I stop feeding them. They have had nuts and dog food, but I'm keen to expand on the available menu items, so if anyone has a good, cheap idea of food that badgers like, please leave a comment. It takes a while for the badgers to check around the feeding area and doorstep, which they revisit several times, and be happy they've left nothing edible behind. Once this is complete, they wander off in different directions, as normal. Now we can talk and Karen is pleased with how close the badgers came, which is a lot closer than the first time she visited. Things have moved on remarkably quickly really. I never thought back in July, when all this started, I would have wild badgers coming so close and being so tolerant of humans. We walk back up to the farm, seeing a badger on the path on the way back, but not getting too close. Once back at the farm we update Vince on what we've seen and it's then I realise I've left the camera in the hide. Due to the rain, not only had I not used it, but I'd put it under a chair to keep it dry. Back down to the hide via the wild flower meadow as Karen hadn't seen it in flower. Whilst walking along the back of the meadow, in the rain (again), we pick up some eye shine on the path ahead. We weren't close enough to identify the owner, but with green eye shine it could have been either fox or badger.
We get to the hide and I open the door and there, right in front of us is a mouse. I've seen him a couple of times and called it a wood mouse, but still not sure. He wanders around in the torch light seemingly unconcerned. He does disappear out of the front of the hide and round the corner as I go in to pick up the camera. Another nice thing to see down here at the hide.

For the second time, we arrive back at the farm and this time we stop for a coffee.It's not raining anymore and a Tawny Owl is calling nearby. We keep an eye out and he flies to the tree just behind the aviaries and continues calling. We also see him leave that tree and can see where he lands in another tree. This tree is also close to the aviaries and we wander over towards it. He lets us get reasonably close before flying off to one the bigger Oaks nearby. Again, a nice way to top off the evening.

Sunday 4/10/09 - Two's company, three is a crowd

2009-10-07T22:39:00.001+01:00

I didn't manage to get over to the Barn Owl Centre this afternoon, but I went over to see the badgers this evening. I'm down at the hide by 7.25 and a badger is already there. I must try and get here earlier! I put the torch onto him and, for a few seconds, he sits and looks. He does turn and trot off into the hedge, though, so I get into the hide, put the nuts and dog food out and get into the hide. Tonight there is a very bright full moon shining out and illuminating everything. It looks really nice and I decide not to use a light tonight, view the badgers "au naturele" as it were. I leave the net up tonight again, although the moon is illuminating me rather. I have my hat on and the Buff I use over my face. As I settle down, I whistle a few times as though I'm feeding the badgers additional food. I repeat this three times, a minute, or so, apart. Just after the third whistle I hear the characteristic sniffing and chewing noises the badgers make. I look to the right of the hide and not one, but two badgers have arrived together. This is unusual and as I don't normally whistle like that, I wonder if they have arrived in response to my whistle? I appreciate they're not dogs and they will never act as such, but it's a nice thought to harbour for a few minutes.

A badger up close!

The moon has been behind a thin cloud for a few minutes during which time the badgers have moved to about four feet away. One of them picks up a lump of dogfood and holding his head high, trots off with it to the left of the hide. They do this fairly regularly and I think it's just them taking a lump of food away from the competition, although I have at times had them do this when only a single badger is present. Within thirty seconds, the animal is back and feeding alongside his colleague. The moon reappears from behind the cloud and illuminates everything, including me. If I turn around I can see my well defined shadow on the floor of the hide. The badgers don't notice. They just keep on sniffing and eating. I've already put some nuts on the doorstep and one of the badgers is sniffing around just outside and soon latches onto them. He tentatively lifts one foot onto the step, sees the nuts and tucks in. I've put four small piles of nuts along the step and he's working his way down the piles towards me. Eventually he's a few inches from my leg; too close to take a picture as it will be out of focus. Nuts finished, he drops back down and continues sniffing around. At this point I throw a few nuts out after whistling and both badgers move in and do a bit of shoving and pushing.

Unusually, three badgers tonight

I notice in the background some movement and a third badger has appeared from the main path and is moving quickly towards the other two animals. This is unusual as I've not had more than two badgers for some time now. I'm slightly confused as to whether the two I've had here already are my two regulars, or whether one of them is a stranger and the new one is a regular. What becomes immediately apparent is the new badger is quite agressive towards the other two with some powerful argy bargy taking place. I whistle and throw some more nuts out and all three respond. The newcomer, who is possibly slightly bigger than the other two tries to defend the nuts from the others and is being quite forceful about it. The other two back off slightly and allow him to feed. This is interesting as this does look like hierarchical behaviour which the two regulars don't necessarily stick too, seeming to be equal. I'm still not sure if the newcomer is a regular, but the next time I throw some nuts out, he sees the movement of my hand as I throw them and runs off. The first two are my regulars, they don't mind the movement when I throw more nuts. He only goes about four or five yards, but comes trotting back in to get some of the additional food. He barges into one of the animals, who barges back. Then, with a long growl, he grabs the badger by the neck. He continues growling and the other badger stops pushing. He is then released and gives up the space around the nuts. This is the first physical agression I've witnessed and although no damage was done, he certainly made his point. I decide not to feed any more and watch as the three badgers sniff around looking for anything that's been missed.

They seem bigger in here...

The badger who had been grabbed a couple of minutes earlier is back at the doorstep and raises itself up onto the step. No nuts there. He then lowers his head over the step to the floor inside the hide and begins mopping up nuts which must have been knocked in as they were being eaten earlier. Initially he balances on the doorstep trying to reach down, but eventually, lowers first one front foot, then the other, into the hide. He started on the opposite side of the door to me, but is working towards me. When he's about a foot from my knees, I fidget slightly and he backs out, then trots off. If the badger knows I'm there, which I'm pretty sure he does, the trust he is showing is fantastic. The only predator of badgers in this country, certainly for the last two hundred years, or so, has been man. This badger is a foot away from me and unless I give him reason, he would come closer. This is where maybe I should trust the badger more? I don't know, but will say again what a privilege it is sharing space with these creatures.

Are you looking at me?

Only one badger is left in the feeding area now and after a couple of minutes he wanders off too. What a fantastic night! Watching badgers by torchlight is great; watching them under a full moon's illumination only, was magical. Having one enter the hide was exciting and a great way to top off the evening.

All Pictures Copyright

Badger Facts

Badgers are very clean animals and will regularly change bedding in the sett. They also spend a lot of time grooming themselves and each other.

Saturday 3/10/09 - A trip down to the hide with Beth

2009-10-07T21:47:00.001+01:00

I went over to feed the badgers last night, but was on my usual Friday night outing to see some friends. It's nice to mingle with some humans from time to time!

I've been thinking about the wonderful weather we've been having lately. Those nice warm, sunny days followed by the darker evenings, with that definite Autumnal chill in the air. This has been going on for a month, or so, now. No real rainfall around here to speak of. That must make things difficult for animals whose staple diet is earthworms. We have been getting some heavy dews, I guess, but are worms about on those chilly nights? I guess there is a lot of fruit about at this time of year and that contains a certain amount of water. There are also ponds nearby, so drinking isn't a problem, but what about food? The two regulars I get at the hide are looking in great condition and I don't think they are reliant of the food I put out. If I didn't feed them again for a month, I'm sure they'd be OK. That said, Beth and myself had just got down to the hide this evening and it absolutely threw it down with rain for about twenty minutes! As there is currently no roof on the hide, just the camo net, it doesn't offer much protection from the rain and we got rather wet. We stuck it out, though and were rewarded with a visit by two very wet looking badgers.
Boots and Badgers

One arrived at 7.50, really late compared to recent arrivals. He comes down the main path and is soon joined by another from the path to the left. We have left the net up tonight and Beth is sat in the middle of the doorway on a chair a couple or three feet into the hide. I am sat on my stool to the right of the door, but would be fairly obvious to anyone passing. The badgers move in close to the hide and finish the food I've already put out. I have put some nuts on the doorstep too. I begin feeding them additional nuts after a whistle and they move in really close. One of the badgers latches onto the nuts on the doorstep and climbs up to get at them. Beth is sat on the chair with her feet out in front of her. The badger gets quite close to her feet, but thinking she may scare them if she moves her feet, she leaves them there. In the next picture you can see her feet against the doorstep with the badger happily feeding closeby. In the picture, her feet look really big, and no, they're not my wellies! I think the perspective of the lens makes them look big.

Same number of badgers and feet, less nuts

I manage to throw some nuts to the two badgers and whilst their heads are down eating them, manage to put some more on the doorstep. They easily find them and with Beths feet still there, they climb back up and eat the newly placed food. I later found out that Beth had scrunched her toes up, just in case! I stop feeding and the badgers wander off in different directions, as usual. We pack up and head back up to the farm. On the way we come across a single badger out foraging, but he sees us coming and disappears into the hedge. Back at the farm we have a quick look around at the birds. It is fantastic that our native owls are so fantastic. The Long Eared Owl looks stunning, the Barn Owl is the essence of a British owl and the Tawny is another beautiful bird. To top off the collection, the Little Owl is unbelievably cute (although he does like pecking people, apparently). A lovely collection of owls, and that doesn't include the Eagle, Boobook, Great Horned, Grass and Snowy Owls that also live here.

Thursday 1/10/09 - A return trip for some visitors

2009-10-07T13:36:00.000+01:00

I came over to feed the badgers last night, but didn't stay and watch them. I'm tending to take the odd Wednesday off at the moment due to things I should be doing elsewhere.

If you read this blog regularly, you will know that we had a family of four in to see the badgers and had a no show. I was really disappointed so we decided to offer them a return trip to try their luck again. I was a little nervous about this trip as five in the hide is a lot and I didn't want them to be disappointed again. It also turned out that the wind had swung round to a North Westerly today meaning the wind would be moving from the hide to the feeding area. To cap all that, a near full moon was due and it was a clear sky. The moon would be shining straight into the hide. Not that I was at all negative as the badgers had been showing so well recently.

When they arrived, I met them in reception and we had a bit of a chat. They were quite excited at having another go and with the dusk well and truly here we made a move down to the hide. On arrival at the hide at a quarter past seven, we sorted out seating for them and then I started putting the nuts and dog food out. I put more food further from the hide tonight so hopefully the badgers would be feeding confidently before moving closer to the hide. I put two small LED lights up illuminating the area where the majority of the food was and had my trusty LED handheld for illuminating anything outside of this area. We settled in, I put the net covering the door down and we began the wait. As a last act before the wait began, I put some nuts in two piles on the doorstep and told them we may be lucky. After a few minutes, we could hear a pair of Little Owls calling to each other. Shortly after that, with lots of screeching and other noise, a Little Owl flew into the tree opposite the hide and perched on the end of a dead branch so we could easily see it. A minute or two later, it flew off towards the farm. The Tawny Owls started just after this with at least two birds calling to each other. At least we had seen some wildlife, if not badgers.

A few more minutes went by and I spotted a badger to the right of the hide and indicated this to the others. By time I'd turned around to look again, it had gone. I waited a few minutes and it hadn't reappeared and I was worried that it had smelt us and decided not to eat here tonight. That animal showed at 7.30 which is the earliest I've had so far. Ten long minutes past before I noticed a badger approaching down the path to the left of the hide. He came into the feeding area a little way, but was acting very cautiously. At one point he ran back up the path he'd arrived from and I just hoped that wasn't it for the evening. It wasn't. A couple more minutes went by and another badger appeared from the main path and began working its way towards the hide. He then trotted down the right side of the feeding area and I thought we'd lost that one too. I needn't have worried as both badgers now made their way back into the feeding area and settled in to eating and sniffing. They sat contentedly eating about four feet from the hide and were moving closer, slowly. A couple of times they stopped and looked at the hide, or sniffed the air and I just held my breath. As I had not put too much food close to the hide, less than a metre out, I now had to decide whether to risk feeding them additional nuts. Would the movement scare them off? It doesn't normally, but if they were being extra cautious tonight, you never know. I decided to risk it and after opening up the net slightly, I whistled and threw some nuts out. They had a good look, but moved onto the nuts and came a little closer. I looked around at my guests and all were intently watching the badgers and all seemed to be smiling a little.

The badgers had now settled down and I was managing to feed them additional nuts from time to time. They were now right outside the hide in front of the door and, as ever, their noses were to the ground trying to find anything edible. Occasionally, one or the other, would lift it's nose and have a bit of a sniff, but there were no obvious signs of fear or panic. Having fed the badgers several more times, I felt they had probably had enough and stopped feeding. The badgers continued sniffing around looking for more food and one of them eventually lifted his head and sniffed along the doorstep. As soon as it smelt the nuts there, it lifted itself up onto the step and began eating. As I said earlier, we had the net down, but the view was very good and at one point the badger lifted itself up even higher, raised it's nose to sniff the air and put it up against the net. Chris, Wendy, Beth and Amy were all sat within two or three feet of the badger, who even now didn't suddenly run off or panic, it just carried on sniffing, looking for that last nut. It took another five minutes, or more, before both badgers had wandered off into the night. In excited whispers, we began discussing the events of the evening, collected our things and made our way back up to the farm.

Vince was delighted that we had had such a great display and we all had a bit of a chat about badgers, owls and wildlife in general. It was a great evening and all involved had an enjoyable experience, some of whom had never seen a live badger before. You can cross that one off the list now!

Tuesday 29/9/09 - Two badgers and some owls

2009-10-06T23:53:00.000+01:00

I was off work today so I've already been over to the centre for a wander round with the camera. It was another lovely day and, although I didn't see much, it was nice being out there. A photographer was in photographing Leighton, the Buzzard and although I wasn't too close to where this was taking place, I heard a wild Buzzard calling, so looking around, there were in fact two wild birds. They flew over Leighton and the photographer and began rising. I took another ten or fifteen paces and looked back for the birds, but they had apparently disappeared. I looked a little harder and they were small specs in the sky. They must have risen at a fantastic rate to be that high so soon. As I watched them circling, there was still no movement of their wings, they just soar higher and higher.

I'm back over at the centre at about 7.30pm ready to feed and watch. With animals showing up as early as 7.45pm, I need to be down there and ready by then. I can hear at least two Tawny Owls as I walk down in the gathering dusk, but don't see them. Food out and into the hide, net stays up again tonight as I have been enjoying the uninterupted view of the badgers recently. I've only been in the hide for about five minutes when a badger appears from the right of the hide. He also comes almost along the front of the hide, very close. This is unusual as they often start further out and work their way towards the hide. As normal, I have one LED light illuminating a patch about a metre in front of the hide. He is soon here eating the free offerings I have left out. From the main path, a second badger appears and he is soon feeding close in to the hide, too. I have place myself a little further out into the doorway than normal and I think the badgers notice me. They keep sniffing the air whilst looking in my direction. I also think that the very slight breeze we have is blowing from behind the hide blowing my scent towards the animals. I think because they are a bit more alert than normal, every slight sound I make, but moving my arm, for example, they latch onto and have a bit of a look. Maybe they can see the movement. It doesn't stop them getting pretty close, though. When I decide to feed some additional nuts both badgers watch as I get some from my coat pocket and look slightly nervous. As I whistle, they start sniffing and when I throw them out, the movement doesn't affect the badgers at all as they rush to where the nuts have fallen. They polish of the nuts quickly and I swear they are looking at me and waiting for more! I whistle and let them have some more. I think these two badgers are getting used to this routine as they actually sit there waiting until I throw some more out. When I decide to stop feeding, they sit there for a good thirty seconds before starting to sniff around. It's now they will be bold enough to come up to the step, where I have positioned some nuts. The smaller of the two is always first in line for these nuts and with both front paws on the step I get wonderful views of the animal. During this feeding I have noticed a couple of rabbits to the left of the hide. They don't act nervously at all and with badgers being only fifteen yards away, I'm surprised. Perhaps they know they can outrun a badger if needed.

I stop feeding more nuts and one badger has a good sniff around for three or four minutes before he's leaving the feeding area via the main path. The other animal doesn't want to give in so easily. He sniffs around for a good ten minutes before disappearing to the right of the hide. I start putting my camera, torches and chair away when I hear sniffing. He's reappeared from the left of the hide and is right outside again! Another five or six minutes goes by before the gives up and exits via the path to the left. I sit there a little longer before exiting the hide, leaving a few more nuts for any latecomers and head back. A fairly uneventful walk back up, apart from a rustle in the hedge here and there. Back at the farm I go and watch as Vince introduces Clyde, a Lanner/Gyr falcon, to the hood that falcons wear to keep them calm. He has successfully put it on once and although Clyde is rather vocal, it doesn't look like this will be a problem for him in the future. Whilst watching this, the local, wild Tawnys are very active and we see one fly across the aviaries into a nearby tree where it continues calling. Lovely! A quick cup of coffee and off home. I'm amazed that the thermometer in the car is registering 15 degrees. Very warm for evenings at this time of year. I can't see that lasting too much longer...

Monday 28/9/09 - A quieter night (for my heart!)

2009-10-06T23:39:00.002+01:00

After the excitement of last night with a badger in the hide, I'm eager to get down and see the badgers again this evening. When I arrive at the Barn Owl Centre, I can already hear wild Tawny Owls calling to each other. They are not year near the compound, but that may happen later if they come over "for a chat" with some of the rescue birds.

As I approach the hide I notice a dark blob on the grass in front of it. A badger is already there. It is 7.40pm and still only dusk, but one animal is already there. As I approach, he makes good his escape and disappears into the hedge. If past experience is anything to go by, he'll be back soon. I quickly put the nuts and dog food out, put up a small LED torch to illuminate an area about a metre from the hide and get on my little chair. The badger I spooked on my way down is back out already. He reappears from the right of the hide and is soon feeding in the pool of light. About ten minutes goes by and a second badger appears from the main path and soon joins his colleague. Again tonight, I've not put the net down so have uninterupted views of the two animals feeding. They work their way closer to the hide and I begin feeding nuts to them by throwing them out after a whistle to alert them something is happening. When I whistle, the badgers look at me with their ears up and seem to be waiting for the nuts to fall. As soon as they do they are on to them and a bit of push and shove normally takes place. As mentioned before, these two animals seem of equal stature in the clan as both can win these pushing fights.

When I decide to stop feeding any more nuts, the badgers begin looking around and generally find the nuts on the doorstep. The image above shows a badger just finishing off the nuts on the doorstep and he certainly looks like he's enjoying them! After about ten minutes, the badgers realise there will be no more food tonight and disappear on their natural feeding routine. I don't want to overfeed them on peanuts and dogfood, or make them reliant on a non natural food supply.

I make my way back up to the farm and the wild Tawny Owls are about. They are calling to some of the owls which are residents here at the centre. I just love the Tawny's call and could stand and listen all night. However, with blogs to update and sleep to be had, I head off for home.

Badger Fact

A badger belongs to a family of animals called the Mustelidae (which means they have a musk gland) which contains animals such as the weasel, otter and mink.

Sunday 27/9/09 - Visitors in the hide

2009-10-06T00:11:00.004+01:00

I've been to Prescott Hill Climb this afternoon, so no Barn Owl Centre as yet. It's been another fantastic day weatherwise. Feel a little cheeky actually. Out at Prescott all day, then back, eat dinner then off over to see if any badgers are about. They are. By time I'm down at the hide, owls are calling, badgers are moving in the dry ditch and food out, into the hide, and wait. I leave the net up tonight. Badgers don't seem to mind if it isn't down, especially when I'm on my own. Why not have an uninterupted view?

A badger checks out the doorstep nuts

Two badgers turn up tonight, a few minutes apart. One from the right of the hide, the second down the main path. Both are feeding confidently just in front of the hide. I begin feeding some addtional nuts and a little push and shove takes place, but nothing aggresive. Both badgers seem to win at the push and shove with neither animal showing as dominant. This apparently friendly push and shove is always amusing to watch.

Over the top!

I've put some nuts on the doorstep and soon the smaller animal latches onto them. He puts one front foot on the step and begins eating the nuts. He's only about two feet from me and I'm taking pictures of him with flash and he just doesn't mind. I get a fantastic view of a badger up close, including those claws. I think the head of a badger is smaller than you would think for an animal of it's size. I guess you don't want a big head when you spend so much time underground. Up close, you also see whiskers which aren't immediately visible when you look at a badger.

In with both feet

As often happens when they feed from the doorstep, they knock some nuts into the hide. Tonight, with the net up and being on my own, I decide to watch and wait to see if they will come in. At first the badger waits on the step sniffing and trying to reach the nuts that lie on the floor of the hide. He tries in vain, but cannot reach so eventually he gives up. He wanders back outside and has a sniff around, but he just can't leave those nuts in there uneaten. He returns and is soon gaining in confidence and placing a front foot onto the floor inside of the hide. He is about 2.5 feet away and suddently seems much bigger! I continue kneeling there and watching, fascinated as this wild animal eats the nuts on the floor. Suddenly he puts both feet in to reach a few nuts which he couldn't manage in his previous position. He is also moving in my direction. I'm sure he's going to hear my heart beating shortly, it seems really loud! I'm really pleased that the trust, or whatever it is they are relying on to enter the hide, is coming on the way it is. I think of the clip on Jurassic Park where the T-Rex has just chased the jeep and the guy says "do you think they'll have that on the tour?". I smile to myself. I don't think I'll be attempting this with visitors as I don't want to scare the animals or the guests! It is great to see, though and I feel a bit sad that no one is here to share this with me. The badger mops up the remaining nuts and eases backwards out of the hide. I stop feeding now and after about ten minutes, the two badgers have left in different directions and I gather my things, shut up the hide and make my way back up to the farm. Another exceptional night. Every time something new happens lately, I think " what else can happen to surpass that?". Something does each and every time. It must have to stop soon as they can't get much closer, or more confident. Perhaps you'd care to join me sometime? If so, call the Barn Owl Centre on 01452 383999. It would be nice to meet you.

Badger Fact

Badgers don't hibernate in winter, like a hedgehog. They do become less active, especially when the weather is cold. All the more reason to get out and put some food down for them!

Saturday 26/9/09 - Another mammal to add to the list

2009-10-05T22:40:00.001+01:00

Having missed last night, I am keen to get over to the Barn Owl Centre tonight. A quick catch up with Vince, pickup some nuts and I'm off into the gathering dusk alone. Wild Tawny Owls are already around, calling to each other. Normally you don't see these owls, you hear them, but tonight is different. As I get near the hide, an owl is calling from the tree to the left of the hide. As I make my way towards the hide, the owl flies out and I see it quite well in the light that is left. I stop and watch it fly across the field until it disappears behind a tree to my right. I watch for a couple more seconds and it reappears, only about 25 feet up and flies right over my head. I get a lovely view of it as it goes on its way, eventually being swallowed up by the dark. For anyone who watches nature, it's times like this we all do what we do. That close view of an animal, or bird, not commonly seen, may only last a few seconds and we may have spent hours out in the countryside, but that is the reward for the time we put in. A "natural high" is one way of putting it....
A badger eyes up some dog food

Briefly, but pleasantly interupted, I continue down to the hide and put the food out. I leave the net up tonight, place a single small torch to illuminate an area about a metre out from the hide, sit on my chair and wait. It's not too long, maybe six or seven minutes, when the first badger appears from the main path. I just sit and watch for a while, listening to the badger feeding, the owls calling and the traffic on the nearby road. From the things I see here, it's worth remembering that I'm only two miles from the actual centre of Gloucester! If the badgers don't mind, then neither do I! As I'm sat there in the hide, watching and listening, I keep hearing some noise down in the front left corner of the hide. I move a light so it illuminates that corner of the hide slightly and keep an eye down there. I then see some movement and watch and a Wood Mouse pokes his head out briefly ,then disappears again. I'm not sure what its after, but he keeps coming back. I throw a couple of nuts down there to see if that will entice him to stay in view longer. It doesn't. By now the badger is close to the hide and he is very close to where the mouse is hiding. There must only be about six inches between them, but the mesh of the hide is too, so the mouse is safe. Badgers will take small mammals given the chance, but this one hasn't noticed the little animal just in front of it.

A badger not smiling for the camera

The single badger is eating everything in sight and enjoying some nuts and dog food. He is moving close to the hide and as he's on his own, I decide to take some liberties. I move my hand and camera outside of the hide quite close to him. He either doesn't notice or doesn't care. I take the shot below and he doesn't mind that either. As he is the only badger to show tonight I don't feed him any additional nuts and he finishes off what I've put out and begins the sniff around. This goes on for several minutes, including a couple of trips to the doorstep. Eventually, he wanders off and I'm on my own. I wander back up to the farm and have a coffee with Vince and Juliette, updating them on the activity of tonight. I've still yet to convince Juliette to come and see the badgers, although she always seems busy feeding and dealing with the birds. A busy, but rewarding job.

Badger Fact

The British population of badgers is estimated to be in the region of 300,000 to 400,000.

Thursday 24/9/09 - A "standard" night

2009-10-03T13:22:00.000+01:00

As I'm trying to cutback a little on the time I'm spending over at the hide so I can update the blog a little more regularly, for example, I'm tending to miss out on watching on a Wednesday night. I still go over to feed, but don't stay to watch. So, nothing to report for last night.

Tonight I go over and have a chat with Vince and Juliette, load up with peanuts and down to the hide. It is about a quarter to eight and as I arrive at the hide, a badger is already sniffing around looking for nuts. I turn on the torch to get a better view and he trots off into the hedge. I quickly go over and open the hide, put some nuts and dog food out and I put the net down tonight. Not sure why, it just seemed the right thing to do. I place myself to the right of the door on a small foldup stool I have down there. By time I've settled in and checked the time, got the camera out and put a light on, a badger is already in the feeding area. He came from the right of the hide, the same way the early visitor disappeared when I put the torch on, so probably the same animal. A second appears from the main path and works his way towards me. As badgers forage independently, it's every badger for himself and when they do meet, as they do in front of the hide, you would think they may get a little defensive. Luckily, the worst I've seen is the argy bargy that takes place when I throw additional nuts out. Badger clans are hierarchichal, meaning there is a pecking order with each animal having its place. Oddly, the two regulars I get don't tend to follow this pattern. One is larger than the other, but the smaller one pushes the other off food as often as the larger animal does the smaller, maybe more. Perhaps they are equal with the hierarchy? Most of the time they are very happy eating alongside each other. This is what they are currently doing, sniffing around and munching nuts side by side. They are now close to the hide and as I've left a small gap in the net in front of me, I place a few nuts on the doorstep. I decide not to throw any additional nuts out tonight and just sit and watch the animals feeding.

Badger at the Door

The nuts are now running out, dog food gone and the badgers begin sniffing around checking nothing is left. This is where they can get very close to the hide and is normally when they find food on the doorstep and this is what happens tonight. The smaller badger finds the food on the doorstep and tucks in. He is really close, less than a foot from my knee. It manages to knock a few nuts into the hide whilst eating and once the nuts on the step are gone he looks interested in the ones inside the hide. He sniffs and starts moving his head further in. Being this close, it's all a bit exciting and it looks like he's coming in! If he puts his foot down, it will be on my leg. I decide to move and he pauses, then backs out of the hide. He then continues sniffing around outside, but the movement didn't scare him, just put him off. That is a good result; that close is quite close enough but I didn't frighten the animal and he wanders off on his own, eventually. His feeding friend has already left so it's time for me to pack up and head back to the farm. I always leave a few more nuts outside the hide in case I get some visitors later in the evening. The reality is that the two that have already visited will come back, but who knows?

Badger Fact

A badgers main food source is earthworms. They can eat up to 200 a night! I can see why they enjoy peanuts so much...

Tuesday 22/9/09 - A fox for good measure

2009-10-01T23:26:00.002+01:00

It's been another very pleasant day and I'm looking forward to spending some time down in the hide; my daily fix of nature! I follow the normal routine tonight and I'm in the hide before eight. It is a lovely evening and with little wind about, it seems very relaxing and just right for badgers. The first thing to show tonight is a fox, however. He moves in a semi-circle in front of the hide, never coming closer than about four metres. He knows there is food there, but won't come any closer. A badger shows up and the fox stays out of the badgers way. I've found that once a badger has moved into the feeding area, foxes don't tend to stay for much longer. Possibly with the awareness that a human is sat in the hide plus the fact a badger may decide to have a chew on it, the fox trots off as the second badger arrives. In the picture, below, you can see the fox keeping a close eye on the badger. It's also interesting to note the badger is sitting down, like a dog really. They tend to eat like this quite a lot and on the odd occasion, they lie down too! Hopefully this is a sign that they are relaxed and not under any stress.

A fox keeps a wary eye on a badger

Meaning to get home a little earlier tonight, I decide not to feed any additional nuts. It's slightly concerning that the badgers, the smaller one in particular, are now waiting for additional food to be thrown out to them. If they hear movement, they are moving slightly closer in anticipation of something being thrown out to them. Normally they would baulk at the sound of movement within the hide, but because they hear movement as I get some peanuts out of my pocket, they are now associating that with some extra food being thrown out, they put up with it and sit and wait. It puts me under pressure, being a bit soft for that stripey face, to feed them more, but I am being sensible and only feeding a certain amount; never throwing all the food I carry out to them.

A number of wild owls are about tonight, all Tawny's. I can hear them calling from several directions. One is right up by the centre and calling consistently. Hopefully I will see him when I walk back up. One badger wanders off down the main path, the other is circulating around the feeding area and keeps coming back to the hide looking for more food. He eventually gets the hint and wanders off into the dark. It's important to me that they leave of their own accord and don't see me vacate the hide. I see a badger on the path on the way back up, but don't get close to it. The wild Tawny is still calling from a tree next to the flying area. I can see him quite clearly as I walk back up and move closer for a better look. I get within about twenty yards, but he then flies off to a tree a little further away.

Badger Fact

Badgers live, on average, between twelve and fifteen years!

Monday 21/9/09 - A glorious sunset

2009-09-29T23:12:00.002+01:00

It's been a lovely day again today. It's now a little colder at about 7.45PM, but still very pleasant. The sunset is also a corker too! The picture, below, was taken from the flying area just outside the aviary area at the Barn Owl Centre. It was a good one, to say the least.

On down to the hide whilst listening to the wild Tawny's again. At least two are calling to each other not too far away. I can also hear the "nocturnal" heron that haunts these parts. I hear him quite regularly, even after dark and once or twice I've spooked him as he roosts in one of the Oak trees on the way back to the centre. I reach the hide and put the food out in the usual way. I decide not to drop the net tonight, again, as it would be a great way for a single guest, or maybe two, to see the badgers without the net between them and the animals. I have tried it with others there as both my daughter and Vince have been there without a net. Both occasions were fairly successful but I'd need to be confident that the badgers would show before committing to that particular idea.

I'm now in the hide, food out and I'm not disappointed as a few minutes later, a lone badger appears from the main path. I get the usual tingle of excitement as he moves closer and closer to the hide. He's soon feeding in the pool of light I illuminate the point a metre, or so, out from the hide. I'm knelt to the right side of the door watching and taking the odd picture. This lone animal eats all of the food I've put out and is now looking for more. As he's eaten what I put out for two, I decide not to feed any additional nuts tonight. I can almost sense a tinge of disappointment from the badger as he eventually ambles of into the dark. I wait a few minutes as the badgers can often return. One of the tricks they use is to disappear to one side of the hide, but reappear from the other a few minutes later. I wouldn't want to leave the hide in view of a badger as that could set the confidence levels of the animal back several weeks, or longer. I close up the hide and leave a few more nuts lying around and begin walking back up to the centre. Just around the first corner on the path I spook a badger. He was close when I scared him, but up against the longer grass adjacent to the path, I didnt see him until I was almost on top of him. I'm not sure who jumped most, me or him! Anyway, he went crashing off into the hedge and I continued my walk back up. I had a second fright when the heron suddenly called it's awful call right above my head as it took flight from the Oak as I passed underneath it. To top off the night, I went through the gate into the top field and turned right along the hedge. Another badger here suddenly goes crashing off into the hedge. Three encounters in 300 yards, or so. I'll be a nervous wreck if this sort of thing happens regularly!

Sunday 20/9/09 - Part 2, the night shift

2009-09-29T11:39:00.000+01:00

The nights are certainly drawing in now. I keep getting caught out by the early arrival of dusk each evening. Soon I'll be struggling to get to the badgers before it's dark as I'll be at work. I guess I'll have to cross that bridge when I come to it.

Tonight, though, I'm over there before dark, just. I get down to the hide and put the food out whilst listening to several wild Tawny Owls which are close by. One is in the tree just behind the hide to the left and is quite loud. I decide to leave the net up tonight so just the open doorway between me and the badgers. When I do this I use a camo "buff" to cover my face as it takes away that white facial disk which is a classic signature for us humans.Just gone eight and the first badger shows up. He makes his way towards the hide and is soon a metre, or so, away busily eating nuts and dog food. The badgers are coming into the most important time of year for feeding as they need to put some weight on to cover the winter months when food is not so abundant. The two that are turning up regularly shouldn't have any problems!

Badgers don't always see eye to eye!

The second badger does turn up tonight, about ten minutes after the first. The second to arrive is generally at the hide very quickly as the first one eats the trail of nuts I leave leading into the feeding area. They are both busily sniffing and eating. I'm still amazed at how wonderful these animals look, they are in really good condition and those faces are just striking, If they hear something, they pause and can look straight at you and their eyes twinkle away. I don't think they are the most intelligent wild animals around, but they have something about them that is very appealing.

Badgers embarking in some "argy bargy"

They've eaten most of the food now and are beginning to wander round, noses to the ground trying to find every last nut. I decide to feed some extra nuts now and whistle and throw a few extras out. That isn't as straight forward as it sounds as I've got the Buff covering my face and I can't whistle. I have to pull it down below my chin in order to do that, but they don't seem to mind. They both converge on the nuts and begin trying to push each other out of the way. As I've said before, I find this highly amusing and would like to get it on video. This is proving difficult as I need three hands really. One for the camcorder, one for the lamp for additional lighting and the third to throw the nuts! Photographing it is a little easier as I can throw with one hand and hold the camera in the second, managing to push the shutter release with my thumb and flash being part of the camera gives me the light I need. I have put some nuts on the doorstep of the hide and when I stop throwing additional nuts out, the badgers, or one of them in particular, comes investigating. His nose leads him to where they are and he puts his feet onto the door step and starts feeding. He is about 18 inches from me, if that. The picture below isn't very good as it is difficult to move and frame and focus a shot with a badger so close, and remember, no net tonight. I think he looks like he's playing the piano, but look at those claws! A great design for a digging animal, wouldn't you say?

Sunday 20/9/09 - Buzzards and wild flowers on a glorious day

2009-09-28T23:33:00.000+01:00

Last night was a good night down at the hide. The badgers showed well, the wild owls were out in force and this weather is very pleasant with light breezes, into my face when I'm in the hide meaning the badgers don't smell me so easily. I do wonder, however, why I'm generally getting just the two badgers.I'm fairly confident that they are the same two most nights and as I see badgers on the way back up to the farm, I know others are around. Why is it only these two visit the hide? Are the other animals more wary or feel it is a long way off their normal feeding routes? I'd be interested to find out...

This afternoon, as it becoming the norm, I wandered over to the Barn Owl Centre for a walk around and to see some birds fly. When I arrive, a small group of people is out on a walk with Leighton, the Buzzard. I wander on down towards them and take a little bit of video of this bird flying amongst the visitors. Leighton is a great bird to be out with. He flys freely into the trees and comes back and lands very close to the visitors. This makes him one of the favourites with visitors, I would guess. It's always nice to see a wild Buzzard when out with Leighton, too, as the visitors can see what this common bird looks like up close.

Here is Leighton flying over the wild flower meadow

When Leighton goes back to the centre, I have a wander around the farm and photograph some of the wild flowers currently on display. It's then back up to the farm to do a bit of IT work on the computers. After that, home and a quick bite then back to the badgers!

Saturday 19/9/09 - A good night and not only badgers

2009-09-26T22:18:00.000+01:00

I fed the badgers last night, uneventfully. I've been lucky at seeing things during the daylight when I'm not watching badgers, foxes and the like. Nothing last night, though.

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

Thursday 17/9/09 - Back to normal?

2009-09-23T22:12:00.001+01:00

Beth, my daughter is coming over to see the badgers tonight. She's always pleased to come over to the centre and see Connie, the juvenile Long-eared Owl, her favourite. Connie isn't looking quite so juvenile nowadays, it's amazing how quick they grow up. You can say the same about your kids, too, I guess.

We get to the Barn Owl Centre before eight, but I need to do a bit of work on a computer before going down to the hide. I don't complete the work and leave a little later than I'd like, but with peanuts and dogmeat on board and a daughter in tow, we set off down to the hide. Once there, I put the food out and we settle in. We have a bit of a wait and the first thing to show up tonight is a fox. I enjoy watching the foxes and so does Beth. She hasnt' seen them as often as me (as I'm here a lot more). Foxes are definitely more cautious than the badgers; they don't want to come into the pool of light and if a badger is present, they don't normally get too close to those either. This one is circling around the front of the hide and is acting quite nervously. I'm sure he knows we're there. A badger appears and shows no interest in the fox and moves towards the hide. The picture, above, shows the fox about as close as it cares to get to a badger, although I have seen them closer.

I apologise for cutting the badger in half, but with the fox being very alert, I cannot get my line of vision onto the screen on the back of the camera and have to guess where the camera is pointing! The fox eventually tires of pussy-footing around the badger and disappears. A second badger has now joined the first and we have them fairly close to the hide already. I can now whistle and feed the badgers a few extra nuts at a time. I'm sure they can see my hand, but wait patiently after I've whistled until they hear the nuts fall. I really enjoy this part and must be careful not to over feed them!

The picture here shows a badger with a mouthful of dog food, which they seem to thoroughly enjoy. The one in the foreground is eating peanuts and isn't bothered about his colleague eating the meat. In fact, I would go as far as to say they enjoy peanuts more than dog food. Beth is enjoying the additional feeding with a small snigger escaping every so often, although it doesn't seem to bother the badgers. At one point there is a badger right outside the hide with his nose up against the torch and Beth puts her face up very close to the badger with just the net separating them. Suddenly, the badger is off. He must have seen her. He doesn't reappear after a few minutes and as his feeding partner has already ambled off, we decide to call it a night and head back to the farm.

I finish off the work I started earlier and head back for home. I'm out tomorrow night so won't be watching. I will be feeding, however, and if anything shows I'll certainly let you know about it. Otherwise I'm hoping to watch again on Saturday night.

Wednesday 16/9/09 - More guests tonight and my dad too.

2009-09-23T00:14:00.001+01:00

I had arranged with my dad that he could come over to see the badgers tonight before some regulars at the Barn Owl Centre asked if they could come along. These guys sponsor one of the Barn Owls here. I thought that would be fine and, in rather less panic than last night, I arrive at the centre to find my guests already waiting for me. Introductions over, top up with nuts and a quick chat outlining what the plan is and guidelines on how to behave. They have read my guidelines and look like "professional" badger watchers! They ask about last night and I tell them we had a no show, apart from the one brief glimpse. They look slightly disappointed, but we set off for the hide in good spirits. I've never had two no shows in a row.

We arrive at the hide and the three visitors settle in as I put the food out.Desperate not to have another no show, I use just one light tonight in case the additional lighting I used put them off, although it hadn't affected them on Saturday, Sunday or Monday. Wind is still that North-Easterly, which blows from the hide into the feeding area. That fantastic sense of smell the badgers have concerns me somewhat. It is 20:00, we are quietly waiting in the hide. 20:15 comes, prime time for badgers of late, but nothing. 20:30, still nothing. At last, I see some movement out in the feeding area. Not a badger, though. A rabbit comes towards us. Not very exciting, but the first rabbit I’ve seen from the hide! I’m now getting a little uncomfortable and I’m not talking about the fact I’ve been kneeling for ages and can’t feel my feet! Not another no show, I hope.

20:50 now and from the main path in front of the hide, I can make out a stripey black and white head. Phew, a badger at last! He barely makes it into the feeding area, however, when he turns and disappears back into the night. There was no noise or movement from the hide; he must have smelt us. As 21:00 arrives, another badger from the path to the left this time. I point him out to the guests, but one cannot see as he is too far around to the left. Amazingly, this one too decides to disappear. My spirits are now rather low, to say the least. We've seen badgers, but not like I'm used to seeing them, up close and personal.

I'm about to call it a day when a third badger appears from the main path ahead. This one is working his way towards the hide, eating peanuts en route. Thankfully this one is feeding confidently and I soon have the torch on him too. He gets to within about six feet of the hide giving everyone a wonderful view. You can easily hear him eating and sniffing and even get the odd whiff of him as the breeze eddies around the hide. We've been watching him for about ten minutes when I suddenly get cramp in my toes! I have to move and, of course, spook the animal. Now the badger has gone, the conversation begins, albeit in whispers. They seem very pleased to have seen the badger and we decide to call it a night. I do see another badger on the way back up, but he runs off before the others see him.

Back at the farm and over a nice, hot cup of coffee, we talk about the evening. The guys are really happy to have seen a badger that close and they keep saying what a great night it's been. They can't believe how beautiful this animal was, just six or seven feet away from them. At last, I've shared a badger watching experience with someone outside of my family, a bit of money has come into the Barn Owl Centre and we all go home feeling happy at an evening well spent. Thanks, guys!

Tuesday 15/9/09 - Our first paying guests, officially!

2009-09-21T22:24:00.004+01:00

Well, all the hours spent feeding the badgers and getting them to feed consistently close to the hide will be tested tonight. I have a family of four coming out to hopefully see the badgers. I was leaving for the centre at just gone seven when I realise my son has used my rechargeable torch, which I use to badger watch, for a photographic project he is doing. The torch is almost dead. What am I going to do? Tonight is a big night and suddenly, my main torch is flat and it takes hours to recharge! I decide to dash of to B&Q to see what I can get there, but by time I arrive at the BOC, it's way later than I would have liked, although my visitors haven't arrive as yet. I wait a few minutes and they turn up. I introduce myself and have a quick chat with them. As it is already almost dark, I suggest we make our way down to the hide. We have put some chairs in the hide for them to sit on. I get them inside and put the food out, along with a couple of torches which illuminate the feeding area. It's 20:06 and the wait begins. Badgers have been showing from about 20:15 recently and this time comes and goes. 20:30 comes and goes. Not a badger anywhere. I stick it out and as 21:00 approaches a badger appears on the path to the left of the hide. He's only been there a short time when he turns and trots off. I have a chat with the family and decide to go and have a look along the main path to see if any are on their way. I can see some eye shine off in the distance, but that's all. I make my way back to the hide feeling rather embarrassed if I'm honest. I explain that the badgers are normally out by this time. I give them the option to call it a night, but they decide to stick it out. However, at 21:30 I decide to call it a day. We walk back around the wild flower meadow and all I can do is recount some of my experiences.

As we walk back into the Barn Owl Centre, Vince asks how we got on. "Five very disappointed people" I reply, then add "no show". The guests are very understanding and have a look around the birds and have a chat with Vince. I find out the two girls have never seen a badger and my mood darkens further. This is just the opportunity I was hoping for; to show people a badger in all its glory, right in front of them. But, it didn't happen and that has to be expected with wildlife. There is no guarantee. I still feel disappointed, however, and I find I have two more visitors tomorrow night. I hope that turns out better than this evening.

I speak to Vince about this and we agree that if a no show occurs, we will offer guests the opportunity of a free entry to the centre or another visit to hopefully see the badgers.

A couple of possible reasons why the badgers didn't show tonight come to mind. Firstly, we had a north-easterly wind blowing, which comes from behind the hide towards the badgers. This could blow our scent out towards the animals, which isn't good. Secondly, Vince mowed the paths into the wild flower meadow last night. Were they exploring the new paths through this natural larder? Also, on the Severn Trent reserve next door, the grass was mown very short today having been left to grow long for several months. Could this too have been a distraction? Who knows. All I know is paying guests are very understanding considering they didn't see very much. Better luck next time!

Monday14/09/09 - Vince pays us a visit!

2009-09-21T22:23:00.000+01:00

When I arrive at the centre tonight, Juliette is giving the birds their supper and winding things down for the day. Vince, I can hear, is out mowing. A quick chat with Juliette and load up with peanuts and I'm ready for the off. Just then, Vince pulls up on the mower and tells me he's put some paths through the wild flower meadow. We wander down for a look and there are several paths right through the meadow giving close access to all the flowers and bugs. We end up wandering down towards the hide and I ask if he's coming down to see the badgers. Bearing in mind, he's the Director of the Barn Owl Centre and in the two or three months I've been feeding the badgers, he's not been down once! Anyway, he says he's coming down for a look so I hope the badgers show up! Don't get me wrong, he has seen lots of photos and video, so he knows what goes on down here.

We get to the hide and a badger is already in the feeding area. This poses a problem as we have to walk past him to get into the hide. We slowly move closer to him and he notices us approaching and disappears into the hedge. I begin putting the food down and Vince opens up the hide. When I've finished putting the food down, I notice Vince is sat on the step of the hide, feet outside. He suggests giving this a try, so I sit next to him and we wait. It's not long before the badger that disappeared into the hedge a few minutes earlier is back. However, he gets to the feeding area, has a good sniff and a look at us and turns tail and disappears. We wait maybe ten minutes before a second badger appears down the main path. He too sniffs the air, looks at us and follows his mate into the hedge to the right of the hide. Vince whispers "maybe we should get inside?". I agree and we move into the hide. We leave the net up, however and it's not long before the next badger arrives. Now we are inside the hide, the badger approaches without any concerns and is soon about three feet out. He's joined by a second badger and they are right outside the hide now, less than two feet from both myself and Vince. I whistle and throw some nuts out and both animals respond to the noise of the nuts hitting the floor by coming over, noses constantly sniffing as usual. I repeat this additional feeding several times and the badgers put on a great display for Vince and myself. Eventually, something spooks them and they trot off into the night. We take the chance to vacate the hide without spooking any animals and make our way back up to the farm.

We decide to take a walk back around the wild flower meadow to see if anything is about down this end of the farm. As we approach the gate into the Severn Trent reserve, which adjoins the BOC, I hear a noise that sounds like two or three men digging, or chopping trees. I stop and listen and we both turn off our torches. I'm wonder if someone is trying to dig the sett up as the sound is very close to the sett. We get into the little grassy area in front of the gate, but all is quiet now. We stand there for a minute in silence, when suddenly, the noise begins again. This time it sounds like a mixture of digging and bark being ripped off a tree. It's quite loud and a little disconcerting, to say the least. Vince moves in towards the hedge from which the sound is coming from and whatever is making the noise starts moving, thankfully away from us. I actually see the hedge move as the animal moves away from the torches. I run on past Vince to see if I can head whatever it is off, hoping to get a glimpse of it. However, it turns around and heads back towards Vince. I wonder if it might be a deer rubbing it's antlers against the trees to remove the velvet that must now be coming off their new antlers. Anyway, the "thing" moves past Vince and then away from him. I walk back towards him and ask him if he saw it? He only saw a bit of it, but says it was quite large, grey and had a tail. He didn't see the head, only the body and back end through a little hole in the hedge. We walk back up towards the farm considering what it might have been. We can't decide, which is a bit of a concern as I spend most nights down at the hide on my own! I could picture all sorts of things you wouldn't want to bump into on a dark night. As we get close to the farm, more movement in the long grass to one side of the path. We both look for what made the noise with torches, but don't see anything, even though it was almost at our feet. Vince thinks maybe a weasel.

Vince thinks the badgers were great and he genuinely seemed to enjoy that. I hope the same happens tomorrow night as our first paying guests are coming, but with the badgers showing this well, I needn't worry!

Sunday 13/9/09 - An afternoon and evening at the Barn Owl Centre

2009-09-17T09:38:00.003+01:00

It was my daughters "unofficial" birthday today as she was away in Spain on her actual birthday. She wanted to go over to the Barn Owl Centre to see if the Eagle Owls were flying as she hadn't seen them flying free. So, over we went (as it doesn't take much to get me over there). A number of cars were in the car park, but the place was deserted when we arrived. They were inside watching an indoor flying display. We went down to the wild flower meadow to see what insects were around and had a wander down to the hide. On the way back up we met the visitors and Karl and Vince out with Kaln, one of the Eagle Owls. This bird is impressive; with a five foot wingspan and flying free over the natural terrain here, it looks wonderful. This pleased Beth as she'd now seen the Eagle Owl flying free. We stayed with the group whilst the owl flew around to different areas and up into the trees. We slowly made our way back to the centre and some people who were on a flying experience went out to fly a Barn Owl called Luna. It's nice watching these sessions because you can see the expressions on the participants faces who are obviously having a great time. After this session, Turner, the brother of Kaln the Eagle Owl had his go at flying. He comes out of his aviary on foot and walks to the flying area which is quite comical to watch. The people on the flying experience now had something a little bigger to fly to them! Juliette then asked Beth to come over and she had a go at receiving this big owl onto the glove. She really enjoyed that! We then had to go back for tea, but I was planning on coming back later.

Kaln flying free

Around 20:00 and I'm back off over to see the badgers. On my own again, for now, but hopefully the company will be stimulating in a short while, although not much conversation. At about 20:15 the badgers turn up, one to begin with followed by another a short while later. Feeding and moving towards the hide, I take some video. The new lights I bought yesterday are in use and making a pleasant change to holding a torch all the time. When the badgers get really close, though, I have to use the handheld as the other lights are pointing out from the hide and close into the hide is in shadow. I've now seen another badger on the path to the left of the hide, but he's decided not to come in and join the fun. The other two, meanwhile, are feeding right under the doorstep into the hide. So close that I can't see their heads, only their backs. The musty smell is quite strong this close to the badgers. As the food is eaten, they start sniffing around looking for more. I whistle and throw a few extra nuts out and the badgers latch find them quickly and eat them. I feed several more times and I'm sure they can see my hand as I feed. It doesn't seem to bother them at all. After last night with the badger climbing onto the doorstep, I'm keen to see if this can be repeated. I actually put some nuts on the doorstep and wait. One of the badgers is sniffing along the front of the hide when he lifts his head up and sniffs the top of the doorstep. Next thing, his front feet with those large claws on the step and he's tucking into the nuts. I manage to get this on video and you can see this below. He is inches away, facing me and eating nuts I' ve just placed there. How amazing is this? He finishes and drops back down so I reach forward and put another eight or ten nuts there. He's back and seems completely unconcerned although he must know I'm there! I repeat this step feeding one more time before I stop feeding altogether and let the badger wander of. Wow, that was a thrill and it's on the video. Hope you enjoy it!

Saturday 12/9/09 - A good night's watching

2009-09-14T23:14:00.000+01:00

Tonight I have to go into work after ten to work on a server that can't be offline during the day. Luckily, I should have time to go over to the badgers before I go. I leave home at about 20:00 and am at the Barn Owl Centre shortly after. A quick chat and I'm off down to the hide on my own. Food out and settle in for the wait. I don't wait long and my first badger of the evening appears from the main path. He meanders over towards the hide and is soon joined by a second. They are eating quite happily a metre, or so, from the hide. I've brought my dad's Samsung over tonight and manage to get a couple of shots. A third badger appears from the path to the right, but doesn't stay long, not even coming into the feeding area. Shortly after this, a fox appears, and although he doesn't come within three or four metres of the hide, I get some good views of him as I've brought some additional lighting along this evening.

As you may be aware, I use a handheld 24 LED torch to watch and film the badgers. This has worked well, but it fairly labour intensive holding it and keeping it on the animals. Due to the distance we are away from a mains supply, rechargeable power is our only option. LEDs offer the best performance for battery life and don't give that intense beam of light like a halogen torch gives. There are some LED floodlights on the market, but they are really pricey, so I've been looking for an alternative. In B&Q today for non-badger related items, I checked their torch range out and found a small 24 LED magnetic/hanging light for a fiver! I bought a couple to see what they would be like. Well, they are really good! They light up the feeding area quite well and although there is a concentrated beam, the light outside of the beam also gives good coverage. Being magnetic, they can be put onto the metal mesh of the hide which means they can be switched on a and off through the mesh. The on/off button noise is a little harsh, but I switched the one I had brought down on as soon as I saw a badger, so he was a little distance away. I'd like to figure out how to run these off a small 12v battery as they currently run off three AAAs which isn't very environmentally friendly. Any ideas on lighting if you do a similar thing, please let me know.

Back to the badgers.They are now very close to the hide and I've began to feed them additional nuts using the whistle and chuck method. They are both getting quite competitive in trying to eat the nuts before the other. This leads a good spell of their pushing routine, which I thorougly enjoy. They are not at all malicious to each other, just grunting and putting the shoulder in. Unfortunately, the battery in the Samsung has gone flat, so no more pictures as it is a proprietory battery rather than AAs, or similar. I put the camera away and just enjoy the badgers less than two feet from me. At one point, one of the badgers puts his head through the gap in the net and has a good sniff. I'd like to have got that on camera. Maybe another night.

Eventually I stop feeding the two badgers any more and they leave the area, having checked it thoroughly for any they may have missed. I wait a minute or two and begin packing up. The last thing I do is roll up the netting over the door and I'm just collecting my bits and pieces when another badger comes sniffing along the front of the hide. I think this is a different animal, but as usual, I'm not sure. Anyway, I'm stood almost in the doorway when the badger arrives so I quietly move to one side and kneel down again. I whistle and throw some more nuts outside and he turns and eats them immediately. The next few minutes are really great as there is nothing between the badger and myself, apart from the doorstep into the hide. Several times the badger looks directly at me and continues sniffing for nuts right outside the hide. I'm really pleased he stays for a little while and feed him until I've run out of food. He continues sniffing around in ever increasing circles until he disappears into the night.

Tonight was a really good night; four badgers and a fox seen, three of the badgers incredibly close and highly entertaining. I see another two badgers on my way back up, but they don't hang around as I approach and I don't get too close. Now the downside, off to work for a couple of hours....

Friday 11/9/09 - No watching but what a sunset!

2009-09-12T22:50:00.015+01:00

After not being able to feed or watch last night, I can at least achieve the feeding tonight. So, about 19:15 and I'm off to the Barn Owl Centre to put the feed out for the badgers. A quick chat with the staff, still all present, and off down to the hide. I've brought both cameras, video and stills, with me as you never know what you might see. Already, a glorious sunset is turning the few clouds that are about a lovely pink colour with a deepening red to the horizon. As I pass through the gate into the bottom field, I notice on the path ahead of me a load of feathers and a carcass of a pigeon, without a head! I wonder if a Sparrowhawk has been hunting and I've scared it off? The carcass has been partially plucked, hence the mass of feathers around, but the head gone, I'm not sure a Sparrowhawk would eat the head first? I take a bit of video for future reference and continue down to the hide. I put the nuts and dogfood out, check around for signs of activity and just hang around for five minutes in case anything turns up. It doesn't.

I am just about to walk a different way back, but decide to go back via the pigeon carcass just in case the hunter has returned. I'm about thirty yards from the pigeon when I see a fox sniffing around that area. Has he just found the dead pigeon and is taking advantage of the free meal? I don't see how a fox has caught a pigeon unless it was very lucky, or sly. I take a bit of video, although the fox is quite small at maximum zoom. I try and move a little closer, but the fox sees me and darts back into the hedge. When I get back to where the kill was, the carcass is gone. The fox has had his supper already; he must have been close when I passed here on the way down to the hide. It's only been ten minutes since then so he didn't hang around.

I continue walking back towards the farm when a notice a fox ahead of me on the path alongside the wild flower meadow. It's going away from me so I decide to follow it, about forty yards behind it. Suddenly it stops and sniffs the air, then turns around and comes back straight towards me. I begin filming and stay as still as I can. Every so often the fox stops and looks into the hedge and long grass. I take one of these pauses as the opportunity to kneel down and make myself less conspicuous. The fox continues on its path directly for me, but at about twenty five yards, it sees me and runs off in the opposite direction. It would have been nice to see it closer, but as I've discovered, their eyesight is very good.

I take some more video of the sunset which has now turned the sky a gorgeous red and almost wish I wasn't going out this evening, it would be nice to stay. I get back to the flying area and Vince and Juliette are there. I mention the fox and pigeon to Vince and the mystery is solved. In one of the adjoining fields they have been shooting pigeon all day and several wounded birds have come down in the nature reserve. The fox wasn't sly, he was just lucky!

I take more video of the sunset and as I chat to Vince, one of the local Kestrels starts calling in the bottom field. You can see it looking at something on the ground, but it is an alarm call it's making. Must be the fox says Vince. We then go on a mini Little Owl hunt behind the farm buildings. We do see one of the Little Owls, but we don't get too close. Still nice to see, though.

That's it for today, but all these things I've seen and written about have taken place in the last forty five minutes and not a badger in sight. Just goes to show what you can see if you are at least out there!

Wednesday 9/9/09 - No net again

2009-09-12T19:49:00.002+01:00

Off on my own down to the feeding area after a quick hello at the farm. Almost dark again and it's 20:25; later than I would have liked. I get down to the hide without seeing any wildlife and begin spreading the nuts and meat. I have both video and stills camera here tonight and I decide to sit back in the hide slightly and not to drop the net over the doorway. This will give me excellent views of the feeding area and should be good for some video and pictures. I use a camo "buff" to cover my face up to my eyes and I have my usual hat on with a wide brim. This should stop the badgers seeing our "signature" facial disc which shouts "humans!" to lots of animals. I also use some black gloves to cover my white hands as these can easily be seen if moved around, even in the dark.

I check the time; it's 20:40 and no action yet. Another very pleasant evening although a bit colder than of late and the wind is a north westerly meaning it isn't blowing in my face tonight. I wonder if they will smell me? Another ten minutes goes by, but eventually a solitary badger comes round the corner from the main path. He is soon about three metres out and feeding confidently. I've discarded the gloves by now as I cannot feel the controls on either camera. I have some gloves with removeable fingertips somewhere, I'll have to dig them out. I put the torch on and whilst it is fully charged, I take some video which relies on the illumination of the torch. Nothing special, just a relaxed badger feeding. The badger is now quite close, maybe a metre, and I change to the stills camera. Because I'm sat on my seat, I'm a little higher than when I kneel and I decide to see if I can quietly move from the chair to kneeling by the door. With the badger so close I think I'm going to spook him. He does look up at me, I freeze, he carries on feeding. Phew!

Still only the one badger here, which is unusual, but he's been so close I could have stroked him. I am now whistling and throwing the odd nuts out, but as he's eaten everything I put out, I won't give him too much more. I continue taking some pictures, but eventually the now fairly full badger, I would guess, wanders off into the night. I wander back up to the farm and hear some rustling in the dry ditch on the way up, but see no more badgers,
so only one tonight.

The picture, above right, is taken by holding the camera over the badger. I could have reached down and scratched him behind the ear, if I was that brave!

We have decided to have a public viewing next Tuesday, 15th September. If you are interested, please go to http://www.barnowl.co.uk/ and look under Events and give them a ring.

No feeding or watching tomorrow as I'm off to a gig in Oxford and only feeding on Friday. Hopefully I'll be there Saturday night to see what's about.

Tuesday 8/9/09 - Barn Owls and Badgers

2009-09-12T19:02:00.000+01:00

I actually get home from work at a reasonable time this evening. Gives me a bit of time to have a drink and chill a bit before coming back out to see the badgers. Actually, I need to catch up with the blog. Then I remember something I should have done at work. Bu**er. I can do this remotely but it takes me a an hour so there goes my time for updating the blog.

As usual, I arrive at the Barn Owl Centre a little later than I'd hoped, so it's a quick "Hello" and off down to the hide, on my own. I've just got into the second field when some movement catches my eye. Approaching from my right is a wild Barn Owl. As I see him, he sees me and veers off, but it is quite a good view. Unfortunately, I didn't have the camera out and it was probably too dark to film anyway. I thought it had flown into one of the Oak trees, but have a quick scan around with the torch and see nothing. On down to the hide, food out and settle down for the wait. As of late, I don't wait too long before the first badger appears. He works his way towards the hide and is soon joined by a second badger. This is the usual pair by the look of things. It's odd how these two turn up each night, but others aren't. I hope this isn't a sign that the others not feeding here because they know I'm there? If you read the blog you will see that we do get other badgers joining these two from time to time, so it isn't a definite that only two will show. I think the large groups we saw early on, with up to seven badgers, are a feature of having young cubs in the clan and sticking together. As the cubs become independant, the clan resorts to individual foraging again. Even the terrible twosome turn up independently when they both show. I feed the badgers additional food by whistling and throwing half a dozen peanuts out every so often, but eventually stop so they can continue on their natural foraging and they wander off.

Walking back up I hear a badger, or two, in the dry ditch that runs almost down to the hide. As I'm walking up the second field I see the Barn Owl again, flying low and quartering the long grass looking for voles. Within a few seconds, he too disappears into the darkness. All in all, a good night topped off by the Barn Owl, twice!

Monday 7/9/09 - Another late finish....

2009-09-11T19:06:00.000+01:00

First day back at school today for the pupils where I work. Usual chaos with lots of forgotten passwords and other problems. Eventually leave work at about seven. By time I'm home, I have less than an hour before going back out to see the badgers. It'll be a pleasant way to unwind after a hectic day.

I take my dad's camera over tonight with a view to getting some more close shots of the badgers. By time I get down towards the hide it's already quite dark. I check the time and it's 20:20. I walk on a bit further and a badger is approaching from my left down an adjoining path. I stop and watch, but he sees, or smells me and, although he doesn't run off, he turns around and heads away from me back in the direction he came from. Onward towards the hide and movement out in the feeding area. A single badger is there already! 20:25. I must get here earlier. This one, too, trots off as I approach and I set the food out as normal. Into the hide and at 20:40 a badger appears down the main path. He works his way towards the hide and is soon within photographing range. I put the camera behind my back and switch it on. It makes a bit of a whirring noise, so I reduce the noise as much as I can. I carefully put the camera out throught the gap in the net and take a shot. I take a quick look at the image and a message says "Memory Full". Odd, I think as I thought there was a lot of space left. Then it dawns on me. I've left the card in the card reader at home! Coming out in a rush is not a good idea!

I now have the two "usual" badgers, I think, feeding close to the hide. I just sit and watch and enjoy. I always find it particularly funny when they start pushing each other in competition for the food. Small grunting sounds usually accompany this pushing match. As the food is now running out, I whistle and throw some more nuts out. They latch onto them fairly quickly and polish them off. I throw some more and accidentally hit one of the badgers with at least one nut. No response. They're not too shy close to the hide, so it seems. Another top up of nuts and I hit the badger whilst he has his back to me. He turns around so quickly, it's amazing. They are not the fastest animals in the world, but turning around they are very quick. It doesn't bother him and he begins eating the nuts I hit him with. I top up the food a couple more times, but let the badgers wander off into the dark and make my way back up to the farm uneventfully, a little less stressed than I was earlier!

Sunday 6/9/09 - A few hours over at the Barn Owl Centre

2009-09-10T00:09:00.003+01:00

This afternoon I decided to go over to the Barn Owl Centre to see what was happening. I turned up and there was a number of visitors in, although the place looked deserted as they were all inside enjoying a flying display of Barn Owls in the indoor flying area. I decide to go straight down to the wild flower meadow to see what bugs and insects are around. It is looking fantastic down there at present. There are lots of bees about and a good collection of caterpillars too. Whilst down there I hear both Green and Greater Spotted woodpeckers. I spend some time looking around and find there are quite a lot of moths feeding on nectar. Not sure what they are but there are quite a few of them. See picture below right. I spend a bit of time down here looking for anything interesting but hear voice coming over the PA in the feeding area. I wander back up and Leighton, the Buzzard, is just about to go on a walk. I tag along and Vince introduces me as "the badger man", which is nice. Karl and Vince take the visitors out and about to show the birds over natural terrain. The visitors enjoy it and so does the bird. Please find another picture below showing the Buzzard in the lovely, natural terrain at the Barn Owl Centre.

After going on the walk I return to the wild flower meadow to take some more pictures and video. I don't find anything new, but just enjoy being in amongst the flowers. After a while I look up to the flying area and Vince has Ron, the Golden Eagle out. He is showing visitors how the training begins and the amount of dedication it requires to get the birds to even do a small jump to the glove. I'm hoping to see the fox about, but he stays well hidden.

I fullly intended to return this evening to feed and watch the badgers, but due to a late dinner, it isn't possible. I do find time to get down there and put the food out, I just don't know what will eat it. Hopefully I'll be there on Monday night to see what is happening.

Leighton Buzzard

Saturday 5/9/09 - A good night with my lad

2009-09-08T00:16:00.002+01:00

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

Friday 4/9/09 - No watching tonight

2009-09-07T23:09:00.000+01:00

Tonight I cannot watch the badgers as I'm off out with a couple of mates. I still like to go over and put the food out for the badgers, though. After last weeks success with filming the fox pounce whilst on my way to feed the badgers, I take the camcorder along, but reach the hide uneventfully. I put the food out and hang around for a few minutes, but nothing out as yet. Having said that, it's only about 19:30 and still light. I wander back up towards the centre, already missing the fact I won't see badgers tonight. I get back to the centre withoug seeing anything, but am now looking forward to a beer, or two, with my friends. Roll on Saturday night!

Thursday 3/9/09 - Forgot the camera!

2009-09-07T14:44:00.000+01:00

Tonight was a real rush (in the running around like a headless chicken sense). I didn't get in from work til well gone eight, got changed and back out again to see the badgers. In the rush I forgot to take a camera with me, so no new pics tonight. I could have given it a miss, but I won't be watching on Friday so didn't want to miss two nights on the trot.

Anyway, rushed off to the Barn Owl Centre, very quick hellos and stock up with nuts. Off into the darkness and as I'm approaching the hide, a badger on the path. Unfortunately, with the wind on my back the badger is soon peering at me in the gloom I'm sure having smelt me in the first place. I stop, but the badger isn't having any of it and disappears into the dry ditch to the right of the path. On to the hide, food out and into the hide.

I have only been in the hide for a few minutes when a badger appears from the same path I just walked down. As usual, he follows the trail of nuts to where the bulk of the food is and begins feeding in earnest.This one is soon joined by another badger and they settle into a relaxed feast of nuts and dog meat. You may remember that when I first introduced the dog food, one badger in particular literally spat the meat out and ran away! I haven't seen that behaviour since and the badgers really seem to relish the little bit of dog food I put out (about a quarter of a can). They will pick it up in their mouths and lift their heads up off the ground, unusual with these badgers who are constantly sniffing, or eating off the ground. They really seem to enjoy this little treat so I'll keep it up. Soon the badgers are sniffing around in the long grass at the bottom of the hide wall. This close you can see how powerful these animals can be as they force their noses and mouths into the long grass to find the peanuts. They thrust forward in short, sharp movements and you just know they are stocky, powerful animals. Soon, the food is all gone and the mad sniffing around phase begins. I whistle and throw a few peanuts out through the door and soon one of the badgers finds them and tucks in. I repeat this feeding pattern two or three times and the badgers seem to respond to the sound of the nuts hitting the floor. The whistle, as ever, doesn't bother them, but I'm hoping they will come to associate it with food. Eventually I let them wander off having had their fill and deciding not to feed any more so I can get out, go home and go to bed!

Wednesday 2/9/09 - Busy at work

2009-09-07T00:07:00.001+01:00

This, as some of you may already have gathered, is my first ever blog. I like keeping some sort of record of events for myself and if no-one else reads it, that's fine by me. However, for those of you who do keep blogs (if anyone is reading this), isn't it difficult to keep up to date with them? Really busy at work at the moment and putting in a number of late nights meaning I'm getting home by about eight and leaving for the badgers at half past. By time I get back from the Barn Owl Centre, I'm knackered and don't get around to updating the blog as often as I should. I will try and remedy this in the near future.

Wednesday night I was home from work relatively early and my dad comes round for a chat. I show him the pictures I've taken over the last couple of nights and he suggests using his little Samsung camera for a go at taking pictures of the badgers. I can't really see the difference as it's a small compact very similar to the Nikon I tried last night. Anyway, he lends it to me until next Wednesday so I'll give it a go.

As ever, I'm later than I'd like to be when I arrive at the BOC. As usual I have a quick chat with Vince and Juliette to catch up on how busy it's been with visitors, how the birds are and any other news. It's then off into the darkness, on my own tonight, food out and into the hide. The weather today has been very wet and I'm togged up in my fleece jacket (it's quieter than a waterproof), waterproof trousers and wellies. Rain is now just spotting a bit, thankfully. I have my dad's Samsung camera and realise there, in the dark, I need to figure out where the on/off button is, which setting to use, etc. I fiddle about with this for a while and think I've got it sorted. A badger appears, coming in from the main path ahead of the hide. He moves confidently forward and is soon only a couple of metres from the hide. I use the gap in the camo net to put the torch out and also slowly move my hand witht the camera in through the gap. If the movement is behind the torch, no problem. Just don't let any movement happen in front of it or they are gone. I don't do that this time and as a second badger appears to the left of the hide, I try a shot. No response, which is reassuring. I take a couple more with no response from either badger, who have now moved closer together and are feeding happily side by side. A few more piccies. Still no reaction. Good. I like trying to get a good shot as I can show them on this blog and you can see them too. See this wonderful pair below, looking a bit like drowned rats, but it has been pouring.

They get closer to the hide, literally a couple of feet away from where I'm sat. Again, I can smell the odd odour they have. They are quite noisy, not vocally, but sniffing and eating noises in abundance! As always, I am gobsmacked to be so close to these animals. I never know for sure if they are aware of me, or am I just hiding well and with the wind into my face, they can't smell me either? I'm starting to believe they now know I'm there, but maybe putting up with me. I don't know how long it would take to gain trust from these wary animals, but wonder if I'm getting there after two or three months? Again, if you have experience of badgers, please let me know. Why do I think they know I'm there? Look at the two pictures below. The first is blissful ignorance, maybe. The second? Apart from the redeye, or badger equivalent of it, this badger is looking directly at me. What do you think? In the first picture you can see the second badger in the background. The second picture shows a bit of the setup I use at the hide. Although my torch looks huge, it is only about three inches across the lens so the gap between the camo net and door frame is about a foot. It's through this gap I illuminate with the torch and take either video or stills as you can see here. My knees, when I'm kneeling, are almost up against the inside of the hide. This puts me really close to the badgers, which is great!

During the taking of these pictures, and another dozen besides, the badgers didn't once show any concern, apart from on one occasion when my hand was holding the camera outside of the hide and the badger came a bit too close for comfort and I pulled it in fairly quickly, which spooked him slightly. So, if you are going to buy a camera to photograph badgers, Don't buy an SLR or a Nikon. Samsung cameras are definitely badger friendly!!

Tuesday 1/9/09 - More pictures tonight

2009-09-06T10:25:00.000+01:00

After the attempts to take photographs last night I have decided to try my daughters Nikon Coolpix as a quieter option to the SLR. This is a very compact little camera, but it takes some nice shots. Also, and most importantly, once you have turned off all the little noises these modern cameras make for focusing, shutter sound, etc, they are pretty quite. No loud clunk as the shutter fires.

Beth comes along with me tonight. I don't think she trusts me with her camera! With school about to start plus a trip to Spain starting on Friday, this will be the last night she can attend for a while. We arrive at the hide a little later than planned and almost dark again. We put the food out and begin the wait. It's not a long wait and a badger shows up. He works his way towards us and I get the camera ready. I take a shot and the flash goes off. No reaction! This is exciting, badgers turning up just after we arrive and now a second badger. We sit quietly watching the feeding animals. Here is one of the shots I managed to take early on. You can see the badgers look to be in great condition.

The badgers move in close to the hide and as I attempt to take some more images, a couple of times the animals spooked and ran a few metres away. They don't go far and I guess the flash is startling them somewhat, the same it does to us when we have a picture taken when we're not expecting it. They come back pretty quickly, though, so I risk a couple more shots. The picture on the right is a cropped image of one of the regulars, I think. I still find it difficult to tell them apart, but having looked at some pictures I've now taken, it seems as though their nose colour, or the area just above the nose varies slightly. Perhaps this is just me, but is may be one way of telling one from the others. Has anyone else noted this? Let me know.

Anyway, the two badgers feed confidently and eventually they are right outside the hide. Due to the disturbance of the flash, I stop taking pictures and just sit and watch. The badgers finish off the nuts and dogfood and are now sniffing around looking for any that they've missed. As I've mentioned before, I began whistling at the badgers a while back now and they don't even look up when I do this. I've also started to throw a small number of peanuts out when they are running out and as long as the badgers don't see the movement of my are, they home in on them pretty quickly, possibly by the noise of them landing. What if I do these two things together? Would the badgers begin to associate my whistle with more food being available? This has got to be worth a try and is basic animal training at the end of the day, so why not?

Monday 31st August - Argy Bargy and photographs

2009-09-04T10:16:00.002+01:00

We are now getting close to going public with the badger viewing. They are feeding regularly at the hide in varying numbers and will hopefully give people the chance to see these animals up close. To help promote this I need to take some photos of the badgers to use on the blog and on the Barn Owl Center website. Therefore I leave the camcorder at home tonight and take the digital SLR plus flash. If you read this blog regularly you will know I've tried using flash before on the camcorder. It couldn't focus in the dark, but the badgers didn't seem to mind the flash. The only untested bit is the noise of the camera as the shutter and mirror move. I'll give it a go and see what happens.

On my own, I'm a little late tonight and it's 20:55 as I'm walking down to the hide. On the path in front of me is a lone badger foraging. I walk quietly towards it, but he's downwind of me and soon smells me and he's off. I continue to the hide, put the food out and get the camera ready. I fire a test shot at a stick I've placed there for something to prefocus on. It looks OK. At 21:15, a lone badger appears from the main path picking off the few nuts I leave as a trail into the feeding area. The badger is soon close enough to try a photo and I get as low as I can and, with some trepidation push the shutter. As soon as the shot is taken, the badger runs off, almost out of the feeding area. Not so good. In the quiet, the shutter does sound more like a gun shot going off, so I can't blame the badger. The badger is already making its way back towards the hide and as he gets closer, a second badger appears and soon joins him. I try another shot and again, the first badger does a runner. The second one didn't seem to mind at all. Whilst the one badger is not so close to the hide, I try another shot of the more tolerant animal. This time, he retreats a little way. Each time they have returned they have been getting closer to the hide as they've eaten all the food furthest from the hide, so although the camera is scaring them, it can't be too bad as they keep returning. That said, I decide that using the SLR for photographs is not the best option; I don't want to scare the badgers. I'd rather they left of their own accord as and when they are ready. I put the camera down and just watch.

Here is a picture that I did manage to take, my first :-)

The two badgers are now very close to the hide, literally just outside the door, a foot or so from where I'm kneeling. They are down to the last few nuts and as I watch they are trying to push each other off the remaining food. They try and get their head over the food and then walk sideways to try and block the other animal from getting any more. This only goes on for a minute, but it is highly amusing watching this behaviour. They don't make any noise during this pushing, or show any signs of agression other than the pushing and generally seem to get on OK.

Footage of the fox pouncing yesterday evening. This animal looked fantastic in the late afternoon light and is in really good condition. If there was a class at Crufts he would be in with a chance!

Saturday 29th August - Feeding only tonight

2009-09-02T13:15:00.001+01:00

Due to my plans changing last night, I was able to go and watch the badgers after all. The downside to that is I am unable to tonight. On the bright side, I can get down there to feed them so it's about 19:15 when I get down to the centre. I stock up with nuts and set off for the hide. Now I've got the video camera, I thought I would take it with me as you never know what you might see. I'm glad I did. As I walk out of the first field into the second, I look up the path to my right and there is the dog fox. He's preoccupied listening to something in the long grass at the side of the path. I begin filming him as I've no daylight footage of the foxes (or badgers) yet. I've heard that if you make a squeaking noise, it can attract foxes to come nearer, so I try it. The fox looks around and sees me, but ignores me and concentrates on something in the long grass again. As I watch him, his ears go up, he does a little shuffle with his back legs and then launches himself up in the air and forward, disappearing into the long grass. It was a pretty spectacular jump, I was surprised at how high he went! A couple of seconds later he comes out of the long grass onto the path and trots away from me, ignoring my squeaking noises. That shoots that myth down in flames...

This behaviour is quite common with foxes as they hunt voles and other small rodents. I've only seen it on the TV before, most recently on the Yellowstone program, but that was in the snow. It was still a lovely sight to see and I do have it on video. I will post it shortly. I guess that's just being in the right place at the right time, but really glad I saw it.

I wander on down to the hide, put the food out and come back a different route. I don't see anything else, although the moon and clouds are looking good in the evening light. As usual, it's just nice being out there!

Friday 28th August - Change of plan

2009-09-01T19:55:00.003+01:00

Tonight I wasn't planning on watching the badgers as I had other plans (no, I don't watch badgers every night!). However, plans change and I was able to. Another late night at work didn't help matters, but I was at the Barn Owl Centre for about 20:45. It's amazing how dark the nights are getting. Each night I think I'll leave a bit earlier, but I keep arriving at the centre and it's almost dark! Anyway, I'm off down to the hide on my own hoping for a good viewing. Food out and into the hide. I decide to put the net down tonight and do a bit more filming. At about 21:15 a lone badger appears. They are definitely foraging independently now and rarely turn up in a group. He's feeding confidently working his way towards the hide when another badger appears. When I refer to a badger as "he", I don't really know. Telling badgers sexes is not an easy task without, err, checking their bits.They are now getting quite close to the hide. My favourite bit! A third badger appears and joins in the fun. I'm filming the badgers and hopefully getting some good shots. It's not easy when filming as I'm holding the camera in one hand, holding the torch in the other and trying to poke both of these out through the side of the netting without any sudden movements or noise. However, when I manage that, I get shots like you see below. Turn up the sound and listen to the racket they make!

If you would like to share this experience, please visit www.barnowl.co.uk and look under "Events".

Thursday 27th August - A good show for two

2009-09-01T13:18:00.004+01:00

Tonight my wife, Juliet, has decided to come over with me. A quick chat with Vince and as it's almost dark, we make our way down to the hide. Dogfood and peanuts deployed, we get into the hide to wait and see what will happen. We've only been in the hide for about ten minutes when the first badger appears. He is not far into the feeding area when he turns and trots off. Juliet is sat in behind the netting over the door and it's one of those nights when we are getting a lot of reflection of light off the low cloud. Although quite orange, the ambient light levels are quite high and I wonder if the badger could see Juliet? He was too far away for the light to put onto him, so that wouldn't have obscurred his view at all. We wait maybe fifteen minutes before a reappearance of anything. This could be the same badger, but this time he is happier and works his way towards the hide. This one is joined by a second badger who comes over and is feeding with the first animal about three meters out.

This is where I tend to put the bulk of the food, although after the last couple of nights, I'm also putting some food much closer to the hide as they don't seem to mind being that close to the hide. Having said that, when it's a bit breezy, the netting covering the hide does tend to flap a little bit which can make the badgers (and foxes) uneasy, even making them retreat from time to time, although they return pretty quickly.

Anyway, the badgers are now getting quite close to the hide and I decide to try some more video. As I open the screen on the camcorder, it makes a small noise and the badgers spook and retreat several meters. I put the camera away and decide it is probably not a good idea to do this when I have visitors as the additional commotion could scare the badgers off. Within a minute, or so, the badgers are back and feeding right outside the door. From Juliet's feet, the badgers are no more than a foot away on the outside of the hide, obviously. With the light on them we get fantastic views of the animals sniffing out and eating the free offerings. With the breeze in our faces, we can smell the animals quite strongly. If you've ever driven by a dead badger, one of the many unfortunate ones to be hit by a car, and you get a smell come into the car a bit like gone off meat, but maybe not so bad, that is what living badgers smell like! It's not overly unpleasant, but before watching them at such close quarters, I assumed it was due to the dead animal beginning to rot. It turns out this is what they smell like.

As the food runs out they start sniffing around madly looking for any missed items. I manage to get a few more nuts near the hide unoticed and they are back eating these extra offerings with relish. Eventually these are all eaten and we watch them have a final search for food before wandering off, noses constantly sniffing.

Another nice show of the animals tonight plus we see another on the way back up to the centre. A cup of coffee, a bit of IT stuff to do, and a very pleasant way to end the day.

Wednesday 26/8/09 - Without a safety net

2009-08-29T17:23:00.005+01:00

When I got home last night, I couldn't sleep. It sounds a bit sad, but having the badger almost in my lap last night really got the adrenaline going and I'm still excited about it tonight. Having said that, I don't know if I want to tempt the badgers into the hide again, I don't think I'd want to be in the hide with a badger as it's not that big and I don't want to scare the badgers, or be bitten by one!

Tonight I'm on my own and think I'll try something a little different. I haven't much time tonight either as I'd like to be home by ten. Food out, no meat tonight as I was late leaving and it was almost dark by time I arrived here. So peanuts spread around and into the hide. I decide to leave the net that normally goes over the door up tonight so nothing to hide behind. I position myself a couple of feet back in the hide sat on my little (uncomfortable) chair. I don't wait for long when some movement from the main path attracts my attention. It's a fox! He trots out into the middle of the feeding area and begins eating peanuts. A few seconds later, a second fox joins it. The first is one of this years cubs, by the look of it. The second is an adult fox, probably a vixen. I turn the light on and the adult fox runs, then stops, but eventually wanders off into the night. The reaction from the other animal couldn't be more different. It sits down on the grass about five meters away chewing nuts and looking quite relaxed. So here I am, sat in the hide, but with an open doorway in front of me watching a fox eating its supper. I can whistle to the fox and he doesn't mind that, a bit like the badgers. I do this every now and then to make a noise they may come to recognise as a "food call". You never know your luck!

In the background, a badger has appeared, but it doesn't get far into the feeding area when it turns around and trots off. Had is seen me? Badgers eyesight isn't very good so if the fox hasn't seen me (and foxes do have good eyesight), how did the badger? Who knows. Perhaps it was just put out that the fox was there eating the badgers peanuts. About ten minutes goes by and the fox eventually trots off. I decide to call it a day during the lull in proceedings and quickly shut the hide up and start making my way back. Still plenty of nuts around so I'm sure the badgers will be along soon. I've not gone very far when I see a badger making its way towards the feeding area, but resist the urge to go back and watch it. A little further along a lot of rustling in the hedge makes me turn the torch on. Two badgers are coming out of the hedge only about six feet away. One turns back, but the other makes its way onto the path and heads towards me, sniffing for food. As I've got the torch in one hand and the camcorder in the other, I'm unable to throw a few nuts down for it. It goes to walk past me on the other side of the path, about a meter away, when it suddenly stops sniffs long and hard. It then turns towards me and starts covering the short distance between me and it very quickly. I'm filming this and decide that it's probably best to move my foot about now, just in case its intentions are not to my benefit. It stops, looks at my feet and then runs off. I don't like scaring the badgers, but I'd like it even less if one thought my foot was tasty morsel! I make my way back up to the farm without further incident.

Sitting there without anything in front of you watching a fox, which ended up as close as three meters before it disappeared, is also quite exciting. The close encounter with the badger last night was slightly more so, but this was a lot more relaxed and the fox left of its own accord, not because I had to scare it. With the encounters I've had whilst being stood, or knelt, close to both foxes and badgers whilst out in the open, it just goes to show that if you take the wind direction into consideration, wear quiet clothing and don't top up the after shave before you go out, what is possible. It's highly rewarding and I recommend you get out there and give it a try.

Tuesday 25/08/09 - Close Encounters of the Badger Kind

2009-08-29T12:35:00.004+01:00

The night after a no show is always slightly worrying. Having had such wonderful experiences I feel disappointed when nothing turns up. Luckily, this doesn't happen too often.

Tonight, just me and the camcorder safely in the hide by 21:00 with peanuts and my dogs leftover food out for good measure. 21:10 and the first badger appears. He works his way down the trail of peanuts to the main feeding area and is feeding confidently. Too confidently, if I'm honest. I watch him eat everything, the dog food, the peanuts and he's sniffing around looking for more. At this point a second badger appears and is sniffing around too. I've quietly stood up and I figure I may be able to throw some peanuts out through the side of the netting that covers the door. I turn the light off and have a go. A small handful of nuts is deposited a few feet from the hide. It works! The badgers don't notice the movement and soon find the nuts. They feed together, but polish the food up pretty quickly and begin sniffing around for more.

It's on nights like this when I've got such fantastic views of the badgers that I regret not having someone here to share it. I feel it's a real privilege to see these animals up close. I do wonder about the ethics of feeding the animals like this. Some people think you shouldn't feed and watch them naturally. Unfortunately, this sort of viewing is generally at the sett and, at present, I don't have that luxury. Having said that, I'm in this for the long run and won't suddenly stop feeding the badgers and with opening to the public now getting closer, hopefully it will add a bit of income to the Barn Owl Centre. Although it won't revolutionise anything here, every little helps.

Where was I? The badgers! Right. A third badger has now appeared, although not close to the hide and I attempt to throw some more food out. This time my hand hits the door frame slightly and draws glances from all badgers. Luckily, they continue sniffing and foraging. The impact has, however, made me drop some nuts both just outside the door of the hide, but a few inside as well. I'm kneeling with my face against the netting over the door and the camcorder and torch through a small gap to the right of the door. What happened next was exhilarating to say the least!

The two close badgers soon sniff out the new supply of nuts. They are quite close now. Their smell is noticeable to say the least. They work their way towards the door until they are at it. Two large, wild badgers are within a foot, or so, of me. One of them actually looks at me through the gap in the scrim and is inches away from the camcorder which I'm holding. I get a little excited at this point and my grip on the camcorder tightens and I accidentally zoom in, which at close range isn't a good idea. Luckily, I realise what I've done and zoom out again. That bit will need editing! The next thing, I have a badger looking at me again. Camera in one hand and torch in the other I watch as he gets closer and closer to the threshold of the hide. Next thing, he's trying to come in!!

Let me put a couple of things into perspective. I'm knelt here, in the doorway with both hands full. My legs are almost numb from kneeling here and being unable to move due to the proximity of the badgers. I suddenly thought "what happens if the badger gets tangled up in the netting over the door?" And now he's trying to come in. He must be able to smell the nuts that I dropped earlier. For me, that was close enough and I make a noise to warn him I'm there. He backs off, stares for a moment and leaves. Wow! It can't get much better than that, can it? Luckily I caught the sequence on video so you can share it. I hope you enjoy it as much as I did, but I doubt it!

Here is the much awaited premiere of badgers on video.

Monday 24/8/09 - After last nights antics

2009-08-26T13:33:00.003+01:00

After seeing the foxes and badgers outside the hide last night, I was keen to get down there for more of the same tonight. I thought that once the foxes had discovered a food source, then they would probably return.

I'm down at the hide, just gone 21:00, on my own. It's a lovely evening, stars are starting to appear, almost no wind, although what bit there is is in my face and therefore I'll be downwind of the badgers. It feels a little eerie down here tonight, I don't know why. A couple of wild Tawny Owls are about, but not much else. I start wondering why I've not seen any badgers or foxes tonight. It seemed like such a pleasant evening, but now I just feel a little uneasy. Odd as I'm not normally scared of the dark. Anyway the hour comes and goes and I decide to give it another ten minutes. After a few minutes I roll up the scrim net door and sit there watching the stars. Another five minutes and I pick up my kit, shut the door on the hide and, still feeling uneasy, start walking back up. I decide to scan the area around me with the torch as I'm walking, but don't even see any eye shine. Most odd. I make it back up to the farm without being attacked by anything unpleasant and wonder why I felt like that. It's odd that it's coupled with a complete no show of any animals. Perhaps they knew something I didn't...

Sunday 23/8/09 - A nice surprise

2009-08-25T13:16:00.003+01:00

Back on my own tonight after the five people we had in the hide last night. I have brought the camcorder, though I don't know why as I've still not edited any of the other footage I've taken. I will get around to it, honest!

Only peanuts out tonight. I've started to reduce the number of peanuts I'm putting out for two reasons; one, the badgers will get fat and unhealthy and two, with smaller numbers of badgers turning up now the cubs have grown up a bit and they seem to forage independently, although not always, a large number of free offerings is not only unhealthy for the individual, but it can take them quite a while to have their fill.As access to the hide isn't possible without coming through the feeding area at present, if you need to go, you can't without disturbing the animals. A smaller number of offerings are eaten more quickly, especially with small numbers of badgers. They are still there for maybe twenty minutes, but that's enough time for a good viewing.

Anyway, back to the watching, or waiting as it is at the moment. I was in the hide at about 21:00 and it's now getting on for half past. I thought I saw some movement outside the hide, but it was very quick. Perhaps an owl flew by? I squint into the darkness and amazingly, there is a fox out there. Since I've started watching the badgers, I've not seen a fox anywhere near the hide, but it's a nice surprise. It's eating nuts and chomping away quite happily. I sit and watch for a couple of minutes, letting the animal settle. I then try and put the light onto the fox. I normally do this by pointing the light into the sky and switching on and slowly lowering onto the subject. I try this, but as soon as the light comes on, the fox is gone. Not quite so relaxed as the badgers, then. I sit there, pleased to have seen a fox as I really like these gorgeous animals and that's the closest I've been to one, I think. A few minutes go by and suddenly and silently another fox appears. I think it's a different animal as it came from behind the hide and the first one ran away from the front of the hide. As I'm watching this one, switching on the spotlight and trying to get some video, a third fox appears about eight feet from the hide and immediately tucks into the peanuts. The other fox is also eating peanuts, but it's hanging around a bit further from the hide. It's about now that I find out how good a fox's night vision is. With the badgers, once the light is on, they don't seem to notice movement in the hide, only sound. The light, although not powerful may dazzle them slightly, I guess, so it's difficult for them to see what is behind the light. As I'm videoing the nearest fox, camcorder on a tripod, I move my hand up to zoom in a bit and the fox is gone. The other one stays put and it's not long before the one I scared is back. Behind the foxes I can now see the eyeshine of a badger. He's not looking too confident in coming and and soon disappears.

Both foxes are suddenly off again. For the second time they have seen me move in the hide. They've not gone far, about twenty meters awayin the long grass, looking at me. Next thing I know I have a badger feeding close to the hide. It obviously took its chance with the foxes out of the way. The foxes reappear in the background, but they don't come too close to the badger. Then one of the foxes approaches the badger from behind. It is being very cautious, but goes right up to the badger and sniffs its rear! The badger turns round very quickly and the fox is off like a shot. When I check later, I've got this on video and it's quite funny. I will post it soon...

The first badger is joined by a second and they feed confidently about three meters out. This is where the bulk of the nuts are, but I've put a few closer to the hide and they slowly work their way towards me 'til they are about six feet away. They sniff and search out every last nut and I get some great views. The foxes which were hanging around in the background have now disappeared and with no food left, the badgers waddle off to continue their feeding elsewhere.

I close up the hide and begin the walk back up. I've not gone far when a rustling in the hedge to my left stops me in my tracks. Two badgers appear about six feet from me and start coming in my direction. I have the light on them, but one stops and retreats. The other comes out onto the path a couple of meters down the path. It starts its busy sniffing routine and turns towards me. I'm on the left of the path and it is working its way down the right where I normally drop a nut, or two, on the way down. As it gets level with me, about a meter away, it stops and sniffs and turns towards me. It moves towards me rather faster than I'd like and with it being no more than a foot away from my feet, I move my feet. It stops, looks, then turns and trots off. I don't think it was going to do anything, but it seemed to be moving with a purpose.

That was an excellent night, good views of badgers and foxes, close encounters and a lot of it on video. I think people would pay for that experience, I almost feel like paying myself!! I reckon we should go public. There is already a lot of interest from friends and people who have visited the centre. I'll mention it to Vince back up at the farm.

Saturday 22/8/09 - Barbeque and badger watching, or not.

2009-08-24T13:32:00.003+01:00

It's the barbeque tonight, which should be good. It's a pleasant evening and salmon, salad and beer have been purchased. When we get there, there are lots of new faces and Vince does some introductions. I'm starting to be called lots of things now from "Badgerman" (sorry Badgerman, if you read this. I have told them!) to "The Nutter", which is in reference to the feeding of nuts, I hope! There is a good cross section of people there from the farmer who helps out with things like planting the wild flower meadow (which looks great at the moment). He's been developing his farm with conservation at the fore and has a good number of Barn Owls on his land which Vince has helped develop over a number of years. We have the bookeeper here, the guy who produces a number of the marketing items and signs as well as the normal staff at the centre; Vince, Juliette, Carl and Rob, who fly and look after the birds, and Dee who works the front office. There are a few others here too, but I didn't manage to speak with these.

Anyway, the inevitable happens. I have three people who would like to see the badgers and Beth, plus me makes five. We set off to the hide just after nine and it's surprising how dark it now is. No sightings on the way down, which is a good sign as hopefully they aren't here just yet. Food out and we wait for half an hour, but no sign. One of the party has to leave as he has a lift waiting so he walks back up to the farm the back way and we carry on waiting. Eventually someone needs the loo and we feel a bit anti-social, so we come out of the hide and begin our way back up. We see some eyeshine on the way back up, but it looks like foxes as they are in long grass and we can still see them. No badgers. Typical! The first time we have some people down there, apart from friends and family and a complete no show. I have got to accept this as badgers don't follow a timetable and must treat it as the norm with a sighting as a bonus.

Back to the barbeque and another beer. A bit later I decide to go for another wander around the farm, but with plenty of food, drink and conversation, no takers this time. Which is unfortunate as when I get back to the hide, two badgers are feeding in front of it. I also see another two on the way back up, but I don't get closer than about five meters. One badger I follow up the path as it sniffs and snuffles looking for food for a good forty yards. It eventually goes into the hedge. Oh well, at least I saw some!

Thursday 20th August - Failing miserably

2009-08-24T13:14:00.002+01:00

I've been holding off updating this blog as tonight I have managed to film the badgers again. However, I'm still not spending time at the PC preparing it for uploading. The temptation to go and see the badgers "live" is just too great! I'm at a wedding tomorrow, so no badgers but thought I'd find time on Saturday to sort out the video. No such luck. In fact, Saturday night we've been invited to the Barn Owl Centre Staff and Helpers Barbeque. No time for video again!

Anyway, back to Thursday night. On my own I set off and spread the nuts around. Interestingly, on the way down I disturb a badger. It's only 21.00 and that's the earliest I've seen them out so far. No dogfood tonight, but I thought I'd try one of Vince's ideas. A couple of weeks ago, he suggested taking down a day old chick to see how the badgers reacted. They will eat meat and as there are lots of the chicks here (for feeding the birds) I thought I'd give it a go. Nuts down and a couple halves of day old chick (sorry, but they are dead already) into the feeding area. I settle down, with the camcorder, and wait. At about 21:25 a lone badger turns up and begins feeding. He feeds on the nuts and slowy works closer to the hide, and the chicks. Eventually he finds a piece of chick and sniffs it cautiously. Next second, he's turned and ran off! I wonder if it's the same one who turned it's nose up at the dogmeat. Is it possible to have vegetarian badgers, I wonder? Anyway a couple of minutes later, it's back. Again it approaches the chick and again, sniffs and runs away! It does this a third time to, but returns after each departure. Most odd!

Eventually, at about 22:00, it wanders off and I go back up to the farm, only seeing eye shine en route. I do a bit of work on the computers while I'm there and leave later than I should have done, especially with the wedding tomorrow!

The BoC has a busy day tomorrow, so I don't ask for the badgers to be fed, they have enough to do already. I'll go down on Saturday during the barbeque and see what happens.

Wednesday 19/8/09 - A new observer

2009-08-19T23:58:00.002+01:00

My dad has decided to come along with me tonight, which is nice. We head off to the centre, but as he's not the spring chicken he once was I decide to go back to the hide tonight as it is slightly more comfortable than sitting in the long grass nearer the sett. I show him around a few of the birds at the centre, Kaln and Turner, the Eagle Owls, Ollie the Tawny, Gyzmo the Barn Owl and of course, Connie, the young Long-Eared Owl. We then head off towards the sett end of the farm and distribute some nuts where I watched the badgers and fox on Monday. Then off to the hide. I've brought along some dogmeat tonight as our Border Terrier only has three quarters of a can of meat and I don't know why I haven't thought of this before.

Nuts and meat are out, it's a balmy 20 degrees with a warm breeze blowing into our faces as we wait in the hide. Perfect! After about fifteen minutes I spot a badger come around the corner from the main path. He fairly quickly moves to where the bulk of the food is, about three meters from the hide. I have the camcorder with me and try and video the animal in the spotlight. It looks very blurry. I decide to take a still picture as this is silent on the camcorder, unlike the SLR. My only concern is the flash. I should have worried about focusing as there is not enough light, even with the spotlight, for the camera to focus. I push the button anyway and the flash goes off. No reaction fromt the badger at all. That's worth knowing.

We watch it feed confidently for about six or eight minutes when it sniffs the air a couple of times and trots off the way it came. At least one showed up for my dad!

Five minutes later, what is probably the same animal comes around the corner and quickly moves to within three meters again. I notice a second animal come around the main path corner and he's soon alongside the first. I'm trying to see what they are eating and the newcomer finds some dogmeat. Very gently he picks a small bite into his mouth and he tastes it. I can see it gently chewing the meat. Amazingly, he literally spits out the meat and trots off, not to be seen again! There's nowt stranger than badgers! A couple of minutes later from the left path, three badgers in line appear. I move the light onto them and the one at the back pauses, then turns and trots off. The other two work their way into the centre of the feeding area and being eating noisily and confidently. We have three badgers eating about three meters away. I've given up on the camcorder by now. As the food runs out, the badgers move closer to the hide picking up the odd tidbits I've place nearest to us. One of the newcomers finds some dogmeat, he's about two meters away now. He picks up some meat in his mouth and tastes it, much like the first one to try it. This time, he wolfs down the meat and is quickly looking for more. One of the other badgers breaks away and sniffing for peanuts, he moves down the left side of the hide and out of sight. I can still hear him sniffing his way around and both the torch and myself are focus on the corner of the hide. A few seconds later he comes around the corner, sniffing his way along the front of the hide.

To illuminate the badgers, I put the spotlight out through the side of the camo netting that makes the door when the hide is in use. I'm knelt down, too. The badger comes along the front of the hide and passes within a foot of my hand and the torch. I realise the bag I carried the dogs meat down in is on the floor near the doorway and suddenly expect the badger to start sniffing throught the netting. He doesn't and moves away from the hide. Wow, that was close!

Shortly after this, with the food all eaten, the three badgers, almost as one, trot off into the hedgerow to the right of the hide. My dad and me have enjoyed that immensley. We close up the hide and after explaining what might happen on the way back up with a close encounter between badger and feet possible, we make our way back towards the farm. Not far along the path, a badger is coming towards us. As my dad isn't doing anything I said, I turn and speak with him. When I look back, the badger is gone. What the hell, we've had a good night and it's back to the farm for a quick chat with Vince and Juliette.

If I can stop visiting the centre, hopefully I can edit some of the footage I have regarding the camcorder. It's difficult not to go out and try and film some more, but I'll do my best!

Tuesday 19/8/09 - More of the Same?

2009-08-19T23:48:00.003+01:00

After last nights great display with the badgers and fox cub, I decided to do the same again tonight. I fed up the hide and dropped back to the area near the sett and settled down in the grass. Vince and myself had decided to try the radio again tonight. Vince had taken it down earlier and left it covered in a camo net. It was on so you could hear it 10 yards away and the aim is to get the badgers used to some local background noise. The local Tawny Owl was out and about, the stars came out and the radio played, but no sign of badgers or foxes. I noticed a bit later that the radio had gone very quiet and then silent. As it was a little way away from me all I could assume is the batteries had gone! After an hour and ten minutes sat waiting in the grass, decided to call it a night and as I had started some work on a PC earlier in the evening, went straight back up to the farm. I picked up the dead radio and with my headtorch on, I noticed some eyeshine in the bushes near where I had been waiting. It looked like a fox was watching me, but for how long? I went back up to the farm and finished off the IT work and then off home to bed. It's odd how one night can be so good and the next, not!

I will be posting some video of the badgers as soon as I've mastered the art of downloading from the camcorder. Watch this space!

Monday 17/8/09 - A Change of Location

2009-08-18T15:03:00.003+01:00

Back to work today. Nuff said. Having had a relatively poor show last night and a no show on Friday I decide on a slight change of routine tonight. I get down to the centre at about 20:45, stock up with nuts and go down to the hide to put the nuts down as usual. Rather than sit in the hide and wait, I head for the sett and pick a spot nearby, about 25 meters away from it, spread some nuts on the mown path and sit down in the long grass alongside the path. It's a bit odd not being in the hide but already I've heard the wild Little Owls and a Barn Owl not far away. I can also hear movement in the hedge alongside the path over to the right of the sett. After about twenty minutes, as it's now quite dark plus my legs are killing me kneeling down, I stand up. I have a camo jacket on, a hat and a scrim net over my head. I hope no-one sees me like this! The movement slowly works its way up towards me and eventually a small black and white head appears in front of me. It's a cub! I hadn't seen any for a little while and being new to this game, thought they had grown up a bit and were hard to distinguish from the others. This is definitely a small badger, shortly joined by a second. I assume that, although the cubs are now feeding independantly, they are not straying too far from the sett? Answers on a postcard please...

I have the camcorder with me, but they are a little further away than they can get at the hide, bearing in mind I'm just stood there, it's still pretty close, maybe four meters. They are working their way towards me when I notice eyeshine from behind the two feeding badgers. I'm about to be joined by a third. However, this one seems quite nervous and although I can see its eyes and hear it moving, it's a good five minutes before it makes it out of the bushes. I slowly move the light towards it and I'm really pleased to see it is in fact a fox cub!! It is quite wary of the badgers at first, but begins eating peanuts and seems to relax a little. All three animals are slowly moving towards me and I've got this big grin on my face looking at the three young animals feeding together. The fox cub decides to circle around the badgers and passes between them and me. It moves within about eight feet of me and doesn't know I'm there!! Wind is in my face, I hasten to add. Anyway, struggling to get a decent shot with the camcorder (spotlight in one hand, camcorder in the other), I try and change settings. With the spotlight moving around, the fox cub decides it has had enough and trots off to my right. The badgers are still feeding. I notice the fox hasn't gone far, but he's watching me from further down the path as the eye shine gives him away. Eventually, I manage to spook the badgers too and they disappear into the bushes. Still with a big grin on my face I decide that's enough excitement for one evening and start to walk back towards the farm. I flick on my head torch and look back to where the feeding was taking place. The badgers are back out already. I stop and I'm trying to decide whether to creep back to see if I can get close again. At his point I hear something behind me and turn around to see what it is. There is some eyeshine bounding towards me and I see this is an adult fox. It stops about five or six meters from me and stares at me. I stare back and after several seconds it turns around and bounds away. As I watch it go it's joined by another pair of eyes, both of which are watching me from about 30 meters. This looks like the adult plus another cub. So far tonight, three foxes and two badgers. I decide to call it a night and I continue back towards the farm. Only a few strides later and something else is moving in the long grass. It must be a badger as I can see the grass moving, but no sign of the animal and the grass isn't taller than a fox. I stand and wait and the badger appears out of the long grass a little further up the path. Three all!

I decide that it's probably too late to go back down to the hide to see what is there and head for home. What a great evening. Perhaps we should be building a hide up this end too!

Sunday 17/8/09 - A daytime visit too

2009-08-17T12:43:00.004+01:00

Having been unable to watch for the badgers last night, although I did put the food out early evening, and the no show on Friday, it is with some trepidation that I go out to look for badgers tonight. Being my last day before returning to work, I decide to visit the Barn Owl Centre during the afternoon and have a wander around looking for badger signs and anything else that might appear!

There is a reasonable number of visitors in the centre, some on a flying experience, others just spectating. I decide to go for a wander whilst people are watching the dispays; I can see the birds being flown later. The first thing I see is one of the wild Little Owls on their favourite tree which is no more than fifty yards from the main flying area. This keeps a number of the captive birds grounded as they could catch and kill a Little Owl. As I get closer to the tree, I see a second Little Owl. I take some distant video on the camcorder and wander on to where the sett is. There is a lot of evidence of badgers foraging around here, lots of small digs and some droppings, with peanuts in! This is close to the wild flower meadow which was planted earlier in the year and quite a lot are now coming into flower. There are loads of bees and butterflies making the most of the flowers and it's interesting looking around at the different flowers and insects. This display will only get better as the summer rolls on, so looking forward to that.

I continue wandering around and end up at the hide. No nuts are lying around so I guess the badgers did turn up last night. I'm trying to find a badgers latrine for a couple of reasons. Firstly, it would be interesting to show people something like this plus, it may show a boundary to their territory. Although I find droppings here and there, there is no scrape with droppings in. I get some good views of one the resident wild Kestrels and then wander back to the flying area. Turner, one of the Eagle Owls, is now flying and these birds always impress me. Their eyes are amazing. I watch for a while and then go for another wander. Vince catches up with me and we talk about the possibility of watching the badgers at the sett, or very nearby. I might feed at the hide on Monday night, but go up near the sett and see what's about.

It's now quite late and after closing time, but Vince offers the remaining visitors to watch a training session with Clyde, a Gyr/Saker cross. He is still on a training line, but the end of his training he does fly and catch the lure. He is looking impressive after only a few days training. Ron, the Golden Eagle is next in line for the training, but I have to go home for dinner.

Beth and myself come back over at 20:50 and quickly get down to the hide and feed up the area. Rather than settle into the hide, I decide to have a wander back down to the sett and see if anything is about. It isn't. We go back to the hide and at 21:35 a single adult badger appears. It works its way towards us feeding confidently, but Beth makes a noise and spooks the animal. It trots off down the main path, the way it came in. After about twenty minutes it returns. I think it's the same one as it is acting very cautiously and keeps looking at the hide. It does eat some peanuts, but keeps to the left hand side of the feeding area and then departs down the left hand path. We wait another fifteen minutes and nothing else shows. There are lots of wild owls about tonight, mainly Barnys, but there is at least one Tawny Owl out there too. Too dark to see anything, though.

It seems that badgers do most of their foraging alone, unless there are cubs around. I think we may now struggle to get the seven badgers altogether again as the cubs are now acting independantly and aren't really cubs any more. I think the two occasions we had seven badgers were right at the end of the cubs "escorted" foraging and we'll have to wait for next year to see that again. Not so good if people are paying to see these animals, but that's nature!

Friday 14/8/09 - Back from hols

2009-08-16T20:20:00.004+01:00

Had a great week away in North Wales, nature highlights being viewing the Ospreys at the Glaslyn Osprey Project, run by the RSPB, just inland from Porthmaddog. I have seen them at Loch Garten in Scotland, but this was a better view throught the scopes with two birds coming and going from the nest. Also finding the Choughs on the Lleyn Peninsula along with seal watching at Morfa Nefyn.

I also had a great day by driving out to the end of Anglesey to South Stack, another RSPB site to see what was around. The most amazing thing for me was the fantastic display of heathers and gorse; literally hundreds of acres of it. It looked so pretty. If the sun had of been out it would have looked even better. I did see more Choughs here, gannets, oystercatchers and all the gulls, I think! Even a kestrel living on the cliff, apparently!

On the way back from Wales we stopped off at Gigrin Farm, the Red Kite Feeding Station at Rhayader. I've been before in January this year and really enjoyed it. Feeding is at 15:00 in the summer, but although there were a number of birds around, they weren't interested in feeding. We continued waiting (getting used to that now with the badgers) and eventually at around 16:45 the Kites, Ravens, Buzzards and other corvids began feeding. Again it was a great display with about forty Kites in attendance.

Got back home at about 20:20 and back out for the badgers at just gone 21:00. It's amazing how much darker it is at this time compared to a week ago. I think I might be too late. No nuts down today so I rush down to the hide put the nuts out and wait. Nothing happens. I give it about twenty five minutes and give up as I'm really tired. I see nothing walking back up either, a complete no show. Hopefully things will improve now as it's Sunday and I'm just off out to see if they show tonight. Will keep you posted.

Thursday 6/8/09 - Last night for a week

2009-08-16T20:06:00.002+01:00

As we are off on hols tomorrow, tonight is the last night of attending the hide for a week. Beth comes along with me as she too is going to miss the badgers. Tonight, as a bonus, I've brought my new camcorder along. I only got it today having driven down to Bristol to get it. I did order it from purelygadgets.co.uk over two weeks ago, but lies and no delivery sums up their service. I've not used it at all as yet so it will be fair test to film in the darkness.

We arrive at the hide and spread some food around for the badgers. It's quite dark now at 21:40 when the first badger appears, closely followed by a second and then a third. They arrive down the main path to the hide and slowly work their way towards us. All three are full grown and, thankfully, feeding confidently. I try and use the camcorder on its "night setting", but in the dark having not used it before, it's not easy. I manage to find the colour night setting but without illumination, it's just black! I put the spotlight onto the badgers and it actually produces a picture! The badgers are now about ten feet away, chewing, sniffing, the usual. I continue to film when I can, but holding the spotlight and operating the camera is not easy. After about twenty minutes, the food is gone, shortly followed by the badgers who trot off almost as one. A good night for viewing!

Back up to the farm and a chat with Juliette and Vince. They have had some problems with some birds and a stomach upset which has been a concern, but most are over it now. Juliette invites us into the indoor flying area where Connie, the long-eared owl chick has been starting her training. It's great to be so close to this beautiful little owl. She's let out of her cage and immediately flys onto a nearby seat. I'm filming of course. Beth is then offered the chance to hold and feed the owl. What a fantastic opportunity. Beth is a bit reluctant to begin with as chopped up day old chicks don't look that good up close, but Connie thinks they are great and eats all offerings. She flies around a bit and is obviously inquisitive and interested in what is going on around her. We stay much later than we should and, reluctantly, leave for home and holiday.

No internet on hols so no updates for the week. Now home again and connected once more, so updates as and when.

Tuesday 05/08/09 - Heavy rain today...

2009-08-05T11:02:00.002+01:00

This evening Beth decides to come along with me. We are over at the hide by about 21:20 and settle in. It's stopped raining at least; it's been pouring down most of the day. There are a number of wild owls about tonight with Little Owls and Tawny Owls calling not far from the hide, but in the growing darkness we can't see them. It gets to 21:50 and no sign of a badger. Looks like another slow night at the hide. At 22:00 we both leave the hide to have a quiet look around to see if badgers are out and about. About fifty yards from the hide we find a solitary badger moving towards the hide. We go back to the hide and decide to give it a bit longer. I pick up some eye shine from a badger on the left hand path, but it doesn't come any closer than about twenty meters. I whisper to Beth that it looks like a "no show", her first. We pack up and head back. We meet a badger on the path, but he veers off into the hedge and dry ditch. As we get to the gateway between the upper and lower field, Beth spots a badger over to the right. It's nose is down as it hunts for worms and other such niceties. It's moving slowly towards us so I throw five or six peanuts down, hopefully in its path. It latches onto these almost straight away and I throw a few more down a couple of feet away. I've already told Beth to stand absolutely still. With the spotlight on the badger, we watch as it comes closer and closer. It gets to about eighteen inches away from our feet, sniffing and picking up nuts and other natural food. It then moves away, only to two or three feet, still foraging and continues down the path. It is one of this years cubs and the poor little thing looks soaked through! He must have been out in the long grass. It gets to a point downwind of us and it suddenly trots off. This just shows how important it is to take wind direction into account. As with last night, this experience is amazing, but tonight I got to share it; even better!

I'm starting to think that after heavy rain the badgers behaviour changes somewhat. Looking back through the blog, after rain their behaviour is different. They are either very late or don't show. Is this because the rain makes for easy feeding off natural food like worms and slugs? This slows them down or they feel they don't need to rush down to feed on nuts? I'm very new to this so I'm only speculating. Also, I'm surprised how they forage as individuals a lot of the time. They don't seem to stick together, even the younger ones are on their own a lot. I've noticed this has become more the norm even since I've been watching them, about a month. I go away for hols on Friday, so no badgers for a week! Once I get back I may try and get a bit more scientific with regard to weather conditions, timings, etc.

Can't go watching tonight, so no update unless something exciting happens. Hopefully I'll be there tomorrow night, my last for a week!

Monday 03/08/09 No show, then...

2009-08-04T23:52:00.003+01:00

After last Sunday nights disappointment, I set off for the hide hoping for a better evening. I arrive at the hide at about 21:15 and after putting the food out, settle into the hide. I've been working on the computers tonight and my mind isn't fully on the badgers. I needn't have worried as it's now 21:50 and no sign of anything. As I still have some work to do on the PCs, I decide to call it a day at about ten. I notice some movement on the path to the left of the hide and a single adult badger is sniffing out nuts. It works its way to the edge of the feeding area, but turns around and disappears. I wait a few minutes and nothing appears. It's just gone ten so I pack up the chair and roll away the scrim netting that covers the doorway into the hide. With a last glance around, I set off back up to the farm. I'm just reaching the path that leads into the feeding area when I notice a single adult badger coming around the bend ahead of me. As they've not been showing too well, I decide not to spook it and head back to the hide. I haven't time to open the door, wedge it, roll down the scrim and get inside, so I go and kneel on the right hand side of the hide. A few moments later, the badger comes around the corner.

I feel I've had a few "intense" moments since I've started to watch these animals and as the badger works it's way closer to me, I feel another coming on! This wild badger is now four meters away and working its way towards me. Another animal appears from the main path. I'm knelt down, wind in my face, holding my LCD spotlight on the badgers and they're getting closer. I watch, spellbound, as these animals come into feed, the nearest being less than ten feet from me. I've made my usual mistake of sitting on my feet and they are screaming at me to move, so I do. As carefully as I can, I stand up, slowly. Both badgers look over in my direction, but quickly resume eating. Once I can feel my feet again, I decide to try and vacate the area without disturbing them. I take a step away from them intending to work my way around the edge of the feeding area. No change, so another step. I manage to work my way round to the back of the feeding area and the wind, which was my ally earlier on, now blows my scent towards the badgers. Just when I think I've made it, both badgers trot off down the left-hand path. Phew.

I start the walk back up to the farm and it's not long before I spot a badger ahead. I put on the spotlight and the badger looks at me sniffing, then retreats, slowly. I continue the walk and it's not long before another badger is seen. On with the light and this one doesn't change it's behaviour at all. It comes trotting towards me, picking up the odd nut I dropped on the way down. I stand still, on the left of the track with the wind blowing from the badger to me. It confidently comes closer and closer and is now a meter away. I hold my breath, spotlight still on the animal. It's snuffling along, looking for peanuts and keeps coming! It closes the gap with my feet until it's about a foot away. It pauses and has a good look at my feet, but doesn't like what it sees, or smells. It turns away, but doesn't run, just trots off. What a buzz! I was getting ready to move my foot in case it thought it was food! Wow, worth coming out for!

Sunday 02/08/09 Back in the hide...

2009-08-03T00:25:00.002+01:00

I couldn't make the badger watching on Friday, but did get over to put the nuts out. Saturday I was unable to make the feeding or the watching, but hopefully Carl at the Centre did the feeding for me.

Sunday evening I can make it, however. About 21:00 I set off for the centre hoping for another display like on Thursday. I take the back route down to the hide and put the nuts and raisins out. I settle into the hide at 21:30. Sat there quietly on my own, I close my eyes a couple of times, just resting the eyes. I open them on one of these occasions and a single badger is approaching down the main path. I can see it eating nuts as it works closer. It's there for a minute, or so, then turns and leaves the area. I wonder why it was spooked, but I'm not sure. I wait five minutes and a single bader re-approaches from the main path, probably the same animal. It works it's way a bit closer and I reach up to scratch my nose. The animal is gone in a second. I think it may have seen my hand movement as I've noticed that we have quite low cloud and with the city lights reflecting off this, it's lighter out there than it should be. This animal originally appeared at 21:41; the earliest I've seen the badgers. However, it's now 22:20 and still no sign of further activity.

A few minutes later I see a dark shape on the path to the left of the hide. It works its way towards the hide but before it gets fully into the feeding area, it turns tail and disappears. This isn't looking so good. A few minutes later it re-appears and I can hear other animals moving around in the dry ditch at the end of the path. No other animals appear, though. I wait and we eventually lose the badger, again, before it gets into the feeding area fully. And that appears to be that! I wait a few minutes, but nothing else happens. I walk back up to the farm uneventfully.

I speak with Vince about putting a roof on the hide to reduce the light levels inside and also to put some hatches in for easier access. This will take time, though, and we'll have to continue with what we have for a while longer.

Thursday 30/7/09 - Anything tonight?

2009-08-01T12:14:00.001+01:00

After last night I was slightly apprehensive that the fantastic start we had had to the badger feeding may have hit the rocks. With a no show, it drives it home that this is nature and it will do as it pleases, no guarantees. My daughter decides to come with me tonight, although I had explained that the last two nights hadn't been great. Over to the centre, load up with nuts and say hello to Juliet and some of the birds. Vince is out putting some Tawnys into the pre-release aviary. Halfway down to the hide and I realise I've forgotten the radio. As we deliberately came over earlier tonight, I decided to keep going and make sure we are ready in case the badgers are coming out earlier.I take a different route to the hide tonight, not down the main path to the hide, but one that approaches from the left of the hide. We settle down for the wait and thankfully, don't have to wait too long. After about twenty minutes at 21:48, Beth indicates that she can see a badger on the main path. I can't see it yet, but a few minutes later it appears. It very slowly makes it's way into the feeding area, but then, still some distance from us, turns round and trots off out of sight. A few minutes go by and it reappears with a second badger. The first one is a full grown animal, the second probably this years cub. They now make their way into the area, feeding confidently. We are joined by a third badger, again quite large, from the left path and then a fourth down the main path. This is looking good. I see some movement off to my left and there is the big, boar badger. He is looking directly at the hide, nose in the air. He scuttles off into the hedge and I don't see him again. The badgers have now worked their way quite close to the hide. We have three animals feeding about six or seven feet away. We can smell them, hear them eating, breathing and sniffing. Every now and then a little grunt and even a shove between animals to protect their food. Another badger appears from the left, now five badgers in front of us. The last one to appear is one of the two that don't appear to get on. The other badger who makes up the pair makes the quiet whinney type noise and trots off. The badgers are now even closer and a full grown animal is not more than five feet away, along with the cub. Fantastic! The nuts and raisins are now running out and there is much sniffing and snuffling trying to find the last ones. Then, almost as one, they trot off down the left path and into the darkness.

I can barely stand! I've been knelt down all this time and due to the proximity of the animals, I was scared to move. I must look at taking additional, quiet seating down there. I've discussed with Vince about modifying the hide for easier viewing and we need to look at this at some point.

Just to top the evening off, when back up at the farm, Vince calls us over and shows the latest addition to the collection. He has a gorgeous long-eared owlet, Connie, who is five weeks old. Captive bred, she is happy around humans and we all make a bit of a fuss of her. It is a treat to see this, still fluffy, owl at close quarters. A nice way to end a good evening.

Wednesday 29/7/09 - Naff Weather

2009-07-30T23:39:00.002+01:00

It has rained for most of the day today. Not looking forward to going out in this, but hey, tonight must be better than last night. Got togged up with the waterproofs and wellies only to find that when I go out to the car, it's stopped. Down to the Barn Owl Centre, load up with nuts and raisins, pick up the radio and off to the hide. It's quite dark already and I'm running a little late. On the way to the hide I see a solitary badger on the path. I take an alternative path to avoid the badger, but it sees me and disappears into the hedge. It's about 9:45pm and this is the first time I've seen badgers here before the feed. Into the hide, radio on, but very quiet. I'm worried the radio had something to do with last nights poor showing.Sat there for forty minutes and no sign of life. The hour comes up, still no life. At eleven, feeling very tired and still no badgers, I shut up the hide and head for the farm. Disappointed at my first "no show" I was hoping to see something on the way back up. I didn't see badgers, but noticed some eyeshine watching me. I shine the torch directly at the eyes, but apart from noticing the eyes were further off the ground than the badger, couldn't make out what it was. I squeaked at it, but no response, so I took a few paces towards it. At this point, it turned and ran, but a few steps further on I noticed it was back looking at me. The eyeshine was green, but it's quite exciting being out there in the dark, not knowing what the animal was. I had earlier seen the footage on the BBC re a large cat sighting. I doubt it was anthing more than a fox, but you never know!

Tuesday 28th July - introducing the radio

2009-07-30T23:22:00.002+01:00

After last nights success, although I was on my own tonight, I thought I may take the camera over and test the water, so to speak. I figured if I fired the flash and the badgers tolerated that, I could fire the shutter on the camera and if they tolerated that, put the two together and take a shot! Anyway, we decided that it would be good to introduce a radio into the hide to create some background noise and to slowly increase the volume to see if the badgers would tolerate it. This would obviously hide any noise created by spectators and hopefully the badgers wouldn't mind. I didn't take the camera as you can't introduce too much in one night. So, sat in the hide, Radio 4 on quietly and all set. I was quite excited already as on the way down to the hide I thought I had seen something fly into a nearby tree. Having a good idea as to where it had landed, I flicked on the LED spotlight I use with the badgers and walked towards the tree. I was only about 15 metres away when some movement in the middle of the beam caught my eye. A gorgeous, wild Tawny Owl was there looking down at me and not seeming to care in the slightest what was happening. This was lovely to see as although you hear them fairly regularly, you don't see them that often.

Anyway, the time was ticking by and 10:30 came and went. 10:45, and still no sign of badgers. A couple of minutes later a small badger appeared from the path. He was eating nuts and slowly moving towards the hide. Just after this I noticed a larger animal approaching from the path to the left of the hide. This is where things didn't go so well. The larger animal could obviously hear the radio. It was very nervous and glancing over at the hide repeatedly. Eventually it ran away from the hide sticking very close to the long grass around the edge of the feeding area. The smaller badger had moved towards the hide, but after only three minutes, it disappeared off to the right. That appeared to be it. I left the hide and noticed plenty of food still on the floor. As I walked back up towards the farm I found three badgers feeding on the path, but they were aware I was there and kept a reasonable distance between me and themselves. Not the best of nights, but we couldn't expect the introduction of the radio to go that well.

Monday 28/7/09

2009-07-28T13:10:00.003+01:00

Today's visit was a bit of a milestone in what we are trying to achieve here at the Barn Owl Centre. Having discovered the badgers and get them regularly visiting a feeding area, tonight was the first paying customer. This is what the idea was based on from the beginning, although I quite liked having the badgers to myself! Karen, a friend from work who is very keen on wildlife, decided to come along to see the badgers. My daughter also came along so not only the first paying customer, but the first time with three in the hide.

We arrived down at the hide at about 21:50. It was a lovely evening weatherwise, with a barely noticeable breeze which was blowing onto the hide from the feeding area. This is handy as the prevailing wind seems to blow that way meaning the hide is usually downwind of the feeding area. Unlike last night, it was still reasonably light at 22:00 as the skies were pretty much clear. Along with the usual peanuts, we had added some raisins to the menu which someone had donated to the centre. If we are feeding the badgers, we might as well make it a bit healthier than just nuts.

We settled into the hide and as 22:10 approached we all stopped whispering to each other. Shortly after this a small badger appeared to our right. He was very close to the hide, but being to one side, we couldn't really see it that well, but you could hear it eating something. Whilst this one was eating something just out of sight, to the left of the hide I spotted the large boar which I had briefly seen the night before. He had us on his radar and didn't approach the feeding area, but skulked off behind the hide somewhere. The small badger, probably one of this years cubs had now moved into view and was noisily feeding a few yards away. A few minutes later, a much larger badger joined from the left of the hide. Slightly cautious at first, but once the peanuts and raisins were discovered, this one relaxed. Although badgers are very difficult to sex in the wild, I would guess this was a sow. Both badgers were within about four or five yards of the hide. A third badger then joined the feast, this one coming from the normal path down to the hide. Again a guess, but this was larger animal and again female. We now had three feeding in the small mown area in front of the hide. The small one was coming ever closer and we were getting some great views of it eating. You could clearly see it's teeth as it was chewing! At one point a small noise from the hide spooked this one and it ran towards the back of the feeding area. It didn't stay there long and was soon back where it was earlier. Another badger then joined in, again a fairly large animal. Shortly after this one arrived one of the other larger animals left the area. Perhaps these were the two that had been squaring up last week? There is a set hierachy in a clan and these two may not have decided quite where they sit in that as yet. The small badger was now getting very close to the hide. It was doing the usual sitting down whilst eating, which I think looks quite comical. It also sneezed at one point which we all found amusing, but stifled laughs only! One of the larger badgers joined the small one no more than five or six feet from the hide giving great views. The food was running out now and the three remaining badgers in turn had a final sniff around then within two minutes, all had trotted off back up the main path. We now had a chance to speak and we were all really happy with the show we had just had. We folded up the chairs, closed the hide and began our walk back up to the farm.

We hadn't gone far when we caught some eyeshine in the torchbeam. Three badgers were moving up the path ahead of us, probably feeding on the odd peanuts I had dropped on the way down. We got within about three or four meters of these, although they kept moving up the path, eventually disappearing into the dry ditch which runs under the hedge here. It was then back up to the farm and a cup of coffee and chat with Vince. He's come up with an advert to start letting the general public know about our nightime activities, so things are moving on. I'm now getting more confident that badgers will show up as, apart from the first night I tried this, I've had a 100% success rate. If you're interested, watch this space!

Busy Schedules, No Badgers...

2009-07-27T13:45:00.006+01:00

Due to a concert I am unable to even feed the badgers on Thursday, but having seen the badgers last night, my wife has offered to go over and put the peanuts out for me! At least there will be some continuity with their feeding.

I managed to get out on Friday and put the food out, so again, they have been fed, but no-one there to watch. I wonder if they did show up?

Saturday was a no hope day as spent all day at the Silverstone Classic race meeting with gig by Carlos Santana in the evening. Great day out and Santana is a class act. However, a twenty hour day doesn't bode well for a late night on Sunday, my next chance of watching the badgers. I'll have a lie in on Sunday to see if that helps!

Sunday night is here, but not feeling that great (Swine Flu?). It's also pouring down with rain and getting dark early due to the cloud cover. It's gone off quite cold as well. On with the wellies and waterproofs and over to the hide. I've decided to try and concentrate the feeding in front of the hide and not put nuts on the paths leading to the hide. This may be slowing the badgers arrival at the hide. We'll see how it goes. Peanuts now in front of the hide, sitting in the rain (the hide only has scrim netting on the roof). Even in this weather, it's quite relaxing sitting in the hide, on my own tonight, and listening to the rain falling. Quite dark now, but I see some movement to my right. I peer round and there is a large badger, the biggest I've seen, stood there and starting to feed. Is this the boar from the clan? He certainly looks like an impressive animal. I decide to put a light on him and as I switch it on, he's gone. Damn. This is first time I've spooked one with a light and it sort of confirms he hasn't been here before whilst I've been watching. Do boars roam and feed alone? Or would they normally stay with the rest of the group? All stuff I need to find out.

Disappointed at missing an opportunity to watch this animal, I sit and wait. It's still raining, hard. There is some movement out at the bend in the path. A single badger is coming towards the hide. I sit and watch the shape, for that's all it is in the dark, reluctant to put the light on in case I spook it. I decide to risk it as it's definitely not the same animal as I spooked earlier. In the beam, a small, wet badger. He's enjoying his feast, though, and quite relaxed. He stays for about twenty minutes and, before the nuts are all gone, he wanders off, back the way he came. I decide to call it a night now, check there is nothing around and leave the hide. Using a headtorch, I start walking back up. I pick up some green eye shine, but it's probably the badger who had just left. Apart from that, I have an uneventful walk back up to the farm, home and bed!

From now on, as I'm up to date with postings, I will try and post each day as it happens, hopefully making it a little more interesting.

Confidence Regained

2009-07-27T12:56:00.004+01:00

Haven't posted for a few days due to a very hectic schedule and not very much badger watching.

On Tuesday 21st, my daughter decided to come over to see the badgers again. Although we did see four in front of the hide last night, they weren't very settled and I wondered if it was because a "new scent" was in the air? Would the badgers have got used to my scent already? I would doubt it. Anyway, off we set, usual pattern of events. We quietly sat in the hide and at about 22:15 three badgers came around the corner on the path. This was two smaller animals and one larger and looked like the same three as I'd seen on the first night I saw them. Tonight, they were much more relaxed and were feeding confidently three or four meters away. They fed for a good twenty five minutes, mopping up the peanuts. There is something very relaxing about watching badgers at this range. Sat there in the dark, with a smile on your face and gently moving the spotlight from animal to animal and seeing them relaxed and apparently enjoying themselves.We didn't see any activity on the way back up to the farm.

Wednesday night and this was my last night for a few days due to other commitments. Tonight my wife came along with me and again the usual fears about a "no show". Much the same as Sunday night, nothing had appeared by the 22:15 slot when they can start to appear. Another fifteen minutes and still nothing, but at 22:35, shapes coming around the corner. It looked like another good turn out but until I turned the light on, not sure on numbers. I switched the light on, pointing at the sky, and slowly lowered it onto the feeding animals. Seven again! This was almost identical to Sunday; a later visit, but with good numbers. Tonight was great. Seven badgers all feeding contently and coming quite close to the hide, maybe three meters at the closest. Two larger animals did show some agression between themselves as the nuts were running out. They were making quite a strange noise, a bit like a horse when it does a quiet whinney, if you know what I mean! They faced up to each other a couple of times, but one always backed down, eventually being chased off by the more dominant animal. All interesting stuff, but not for the other badgers who seemed to find every last nut and they quietly ambled off as group back the way they came!

I can't watch the badgers until Sunday now, so hopefully things won't have changed too much!

Why Keep it to Myself...

2009-07-23T13:06:00.002+01:00

Having had a couple of good nights viewing the badgers I thought it was time more than one person attended. These things are great to see, but even better if you share them with someone else. The ultimate aim would be to charge visitors on prearranged nights to come in and see the badgers, raising much needed revenue for the centre, so there will need to be more than one person viewing anyway. My daughter was keen on coming along as she has only seen the odd badger in car headlights, or dead at the roadside. So, the two of us set off and having had a chat with Vince, we headed off towards the hide with the usual sprinkling of nuts en-route and a good pound or two in front of the hide. Unlike the previous two evenings, tonight was almost still with very little wind. It was still blowing onto the hide from the feeding area, so hopefully they wouldn't get our scent. Having built up her hopes of what she might see I was worried we'd have a "no show". We needn't have worried. About 22:15 a single badger turned up from the left of the hide. None had appeared from there before. It seemed hesitant and not very relaxed. He started eating peanuts, and another badger appeared from the normal route. This one hung back for several minutes, again seemingly concerned at something. I wondered if the two badgers were from different clans maybe? Eventually the second badger came into the feeding area and began eating. Both badgers didn't stay long; they both ambled off in different directions just as two more arrived. Again, something was bothering them, but I'm not sure what. These stayed for about ten or fifteen minutes before wandering off with plenty of peanuts still on the floor (I did have seven the night before, so was making sure they would have enough!). We called it a night at that point, but one more treat lay in store.

On the usual route back up to the farm, my daughter stopped and pointed. Near the edge of the path, four or five metres way, a badger was sniffing around. I put the spotlight onto it at which point it turned around, looking at us. It then moved closer by a metre or more and stopped in a perfect "pointer" position, its head pointing directly at us with a front paw raised. After a few seconds, it trotted diagonally towards us and headed for the cover of the hedge. In doing so it passed within two metres of where we were stood. Fantastic!

I did wonder later why the badgers had all seemed a bit unsettled and didn't stay too long. Either they could smell us because of the very light breeze, maybe? Perhaps there were badgers from more than one clan? Once I can start to recognise individuals (if ever), I can answer that one for myself...

The Day After the Night Before

2009-07-22T20:08:00.013+01:00

Having had my very surprising, but very welcome success on Saturday night, I couldn't wait for Sunday night to come around. I think at this point it would be good to let you know where this is taking place. As mentioned in my first post, I originally offered my help to sort out the computers at this charity. I admire the work these guys do and it seemed right to volunteer my services. The charity is The Barn Owl Centre. It is a charity which promotes conservation of and education about native birds of prey. Don't let the name put you off, they have many different birds here from Barn Owls, Tawny, Little, Eagle, Long-Eared and Snowy to Buzzards, Harris Hawks, Peregrines, Lanner and Big Ron, the Golden Eagle, amongst many others. It is now being called a Birds of Prey Centre too, for good reason! The site is 12.5 acres and is also a nature reserve with many native birds found onsite including Kestrel, Little Owl, Tawny Owl, Barn Owl, Buzzard and even Red Legged Partridge. Amazingly this site is only two miles from the centre of Gloucester. Please have a look at the website and if you are interested in photography, make sure you check out the Photograpy Days.

Anyway, back to the badgers. I did go over to the Centre on Sunday afternoon to see some birds flying and have a wander around the site during the day to do some detective work as to badgers and their habits. I saw the resident dog fox looking great in the afternoon sunshine between the showers. I didn't really find any conclusive evidence as to where the sett may be, but found several well used pathways. Kestrels, Buzzards and Little Owl were also spotted.

This is a picture of Kaln, one of the stars at The Barn Owl Centre. This shot hopefully shows the fantastic natural habitat here and the natural-looking photographs possible.
Image Copyrighted

Home for tea and back round as it's getting dark and the usual "peanut run". I was inside the hide by about 21:50 and settled down for the wait. The previous night the badgers had been out at about 22:15. This time came and went and no sign of anything. Perhaps it was beginners luck. 22:30 came and went and then out of the darkness I could make several shapes coming around the bend in the path. I waited for a couple of minutes and couldn't believe my eyes. I counted six badgers, all together, coming into the feeding area. I switched on the spotlight and actually there were seven badgers. I was enthralled watching this family unit sniffing, chewing belching, growling and scratching. Seven! They systematically cleared the area of peanuts, the odd squabble taking place. I don't put peanuts right up to the hide, but they contentedly ate peanuts no more than ten feet from me. Eventually they dispersed and the show was over. I heard plenty of movement the undergrowth whilst walking back up to the farm. Both Tawny and Barn Owls were out calling this evening as well. What a night!

How close?

2009-07-22T13:13:00.002+01:00

Following on from my last entry, I had just seen badgers feeding just where I wanted them, but as I entered the hide, they ran off. Anyway, just putting my chair up and about to sit down and one badger was already back out on the peanuts. This was barely two minutes since I had walked past and scared them off. Within a minute, all three badgers were back and noisily snuffling around and chomping peanuts. As it was dark, seeing any detail was a bit tricky so as they were nearing the end of their feast I whistled a few times and also switched on my handheld LED spotlamp. The largest badger immediately looked around at me, but then carried on feeding. The two smaller ones didn't even flinch. So now I had three badgers, a female and two of this years cubs, by the look of it, feeding no more than four metres from me and brightly illuminated by my spotlight. I couldn't believe my luck; watching badgers at close range and seeing every detail of their faces and how, at times, they sit down like a dog. With their short legs, they looked quite comical to say the least!

Anyway, all things must come to an end and in this case the peanuts ran out and the badgers ambled off. Feeling quite good about things I moved the scrim net that covers the door of the hide, put the chair away and started the five minute walk back up to the farm. I hadn't gone far when I came across two badgers moving in the same direction as me and feeding on the odd peanuts I had scattered on the way down to the hide. I stuck my neck out and again used the spotlight. No reaction, phew! I was following them about five metres behind them. What happened next blew me away! One of the badgers turned around and started heading back towards me. Sniffing his way back down the path looking for any missed peanuts, he seemed completely unaware of my presence. Remember, I had a spotlight illuminating him and still he came. Four metres, three, two. Would he bite my leg? Would he suddenly realise I was there and react making me jump? No, he sniffed his way past me no more than three or four feet away. What a buzz! I didn't follow him any further and continued on my way back to the farm. When I told Vince of my success he seemed really pleased, although I'm not sure he believed me at first! I had been putting nuts out for six days and this was the result. Surely it must be beginners luck?