Why Keep it to Myself...

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...