Monday 28/7/09

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!

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