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

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.

Thursday 17/9/09 - Back to normal?

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.

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

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!

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

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

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

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!

Thursday 30/7/09 - Anything tonight?

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.