Websailor's Wacky Wildlife World
Created | Updated Apr 1, 2009
A quirky look at wildlife. To be taken with a pinch of
salt, but with more than a grain of truth!
A Badger Fest!
It is a busy time in both McWebbie's Diner and McWebbie's Bistro (my garden) during March, and this year has been no exception. Most of the birds are paired up, though there are still a few in dispute over partners and territory. It is such a joy to see them arriving in pairs instead of singly, confirming that we have far more birds than are normally seen at any one time.
Now, of course, I am seeing more activity from our nocturnal visitors such as the foxes and the badgers. The foxes have visited on and off throughout the winter, but the badgers, who normally reappear in mid March, turned up at the beginning of March this year, the first actual sighting being on the night of the 3rd/4th March! I have watched every night, and many times caught sight of just one brock, but judging by appearance, behaviour and temperament I felt sure I was seeing at least two different ones.
I feed from two dishes with lids and bricks on to deter rats, and I put a little on the low bird table to amuse the foxes. Badgers are 'top dog' and foxes will not take them on. Something to do with those strong jaws I think.
Saturday 28th March was quite a day. Sunshine, and a bitterly cold gusty wind in the morning. Rain and hailstorms battering the garden in the afternoon. In the evening I settled down to take part in 'Earth Hour' secure in the knowledge that (a) badgers come late on Saturdays as they go out on the tiles with their mates, and (b) anyway they don’t like wet and windy weather!
A check at 9.30pm after Earth Hour showed no sign of activity, though shortly afterwards a fox was nibbling morsels from the stone table and running off with them. This one was too jumpy to stay and eat properly, and there appear to be two anyway, one smaller than the other, perhaps a male and a female. I haven’t heard the usual blood curdling cries as they mate (in January) this year though, so whether we shall see and hear cubs later this year is debatable.
At 10.25pm a badger was discovered, unusually on the path, foraging for peanuts, raisins and sunflower seeds left by the birds after it rained. It stayed thus for an age, which is also unusual, and I began to think this was an unfamiliar one. When it eventually ventured to the table, stood on hind legs and nosed round the (now empty) table without tipping it I was even more sure. I watched as it sniffed warily round the right hand dish, and mooched up to the patio. Front paws on the step, it sniffed around, but decided against coming any nearer to the house.
While it was still investigating the right hand dish another badger appeared at the bottom of the garden and ambled slowly up, watching closely as #1 badger finally opened the dish with some difficulty and started eating. After a few minutes of mooching #2 badger turned and exited left. #1 carried on eating, eventually moving to the right hand dish and investigating and sniffing very gingerly. Still unsure he went for a drink just as #2 badger reappeared to tip the table over. The thump it made as it hit the ground seemed to unnerve #1 and he trotted off at 10.41pm, exiting left in a hurry, having had no visible 'conversation' with what was clearly an older badger. Thinking about it, it is possible that there were three badgers, as distinguishing them in semi darkness is often beyond even the experts.
#2 finished off what #1 had left in the right hand dish, had a mooch around and at 10.47pm slammed the huge brick off the right hand dish, sent the metal lid flying and stuck its snout in to eat. This badger was confident, yet not in competition with the other one. Neither my husband nor I could work out whether #1 was a new cub, but it certainly behaved like it, as if it had never been to McWebbie's Bistro before. It looked smaller too.
However, this is very early for them to be out and about and weaned on to solid food. So, was it an exhausted sow, having lost weight from her winter hibernation and birth of a cub, and now looking to feed herself up? Yet she would have known about the dishes and not hesitated. We just do not know! Certainly #2 was older, more confident, and considerate of #1’s needs, whether cub or mate, so it could have been Boss Man, our older male.
It is well known that badgers produce their cubs whenever conditions are just right, so perhaps she gave birth early in the knowledge that McWebbie's Bistro would provide an early much needed food supply. We shall have to watch closely and hope we can solve the mystery.
#2 finished at the right hand dish, had a drink, then checked the dishes and the table again and headed for the path at 10.55pm. Legs aching I watched, thinking the badger would be off home soon and I could sit down, but not a bit of it! It spent twenty minutes cleaning damp food off the path—I really didn't think I had left that much out, so brock must have been very hungry. Once again he moved, and I thought he was leaving but no, off he went on a thorough search of the garden, snapping and sucking at worms from all over the lawn, and foraging in among the bluebells. My bluebells!!!!! Badgers love bluebell bulbs, but thankfully he left them alone.
Eventually at 11.21pm he wandered nearer and nearer to the exits, as I longed for him to go! 
Diving under the conifers he disappeared into the gloom and I have no idea whether he took the left or centre exit! I watched for a few minutes but there was no sign of movement. I went off to bed for a shorter than usual night, tired, but happy to have seen our two visitors.
Now is the time when badgers are increasingly seen out and about, and in the darkness they are vulnerable to death from traffic on roads. They also start appearing in gardens and sadly are not always as welcome as in ours. Once they take a fancy to a garden they are not easy to get rid of, and I quite understand that if they are damaging vegetables or prize plants, or digging up lawns, they are not greeted with enthusiasm.
Beware! Should you be blessed with such visitors, they are a protected species, and any interference with them, their cubs or setts, especially at this time of year is against the law, with severe penalties for breaking it. Fences and walls might keep badgers out, but they are strong, determined, and climb any surface where their claws can gain purchase.
Having fed 'ours' for nearly four years, with only very minor disruption, I firmly believe that if you feed them, and they have easy access to food, they will leave the garden alone. But then, I have nothing of real interest to them, except worms and bluebells, oh, and blackberries! As far as I am aware my neighbours know nothing of my nocturnal visitors and I have no intention of enlightening them.
If you want to discourage badgers from entering your garden or those of your neighbours, I would urge you first to take a look at
the 'Badgers In Your Garden' PDF file1, then contact your local badger group for help and advice.
You can find the groups, and more information at the
Badger Trust.
This morning as I write I am shattered, what with 'Earth Hour', badgers visiting and the clocks going forward an hour, so I will just wish you 'happy badger watching' if you are that lucky. Good luck too, with your efforts to repel 'boarders' if that is what you want, but please, please do no harm. It is we who are encroaching on their habitat, not the other way around.
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