Keep an eye out for Brian.

 

Well unfortunately it’s that time of year again, the time when rifles are at the ready and pointed at our badgers. The cull has not only returned, it has been extended to three new counties.

The cull targets for badgers to be killed in each county is frightening, and the fact this slaughter continues, a national disgrace.

Badger cull targets for 2016

Devon: Minimum 3,358, maximum 4,558

Cornwall: Minimum 2,173, maximum 2,950 

Gloucestershire: Minimum 1,691, maximum 2,628 

Dorset: Minimum 1,672, maximum 2,350

Herefordshire: Minimum 872, maximum 1,183

Somerset: Minimum 75, maximum 544

Source: Natural England

There is no published data what-so-ever from the government to even tentatively support the Government’s stance that badgers spread Bovine TB to cattle. Not a shred of real evidence at all!

I feel it speaks volumes that the authorities involved in the cull have not tested any of the badgers already slaughtered to ascertain if they are actually infected with TB. I believe this is because they are fully aware that they are killing completely healthy badgers. If there was substantial published data to show this, I believe public opinion on the matter would significantly increase in opposition to this inhumane slaughter. The government just doesn’t want a paper trail of factual scientific data proving that the vast majority of badgers killed are perfectly healthy animals.

I heard Meurig Raymond, president of the NFU speaking on BBC Farming Today recently. When asked why there is no factual published data of any sort to substantiate claims that Badger culling is indeed reducing the spread of TB to cattle herds, he replied that the Anecdotal evidence demonstrated that the cull was indeed effective.

Anecdotal evidence! Unbelievable!  

If you care to look into a real definition of Anecdotal evidence it will highlight that such evidence is, not necessarily true and certainly not reliable. It is completely based on personal opinion and has no real factual data or scientific research to substantiate it. By its very nature, anecdotal evidence tends to be cherry picked to support a personal belief, it isn’t factual and cannot be proved or disproved. In other words, it isn’t really evidence at all.

On Tuesday evening Aug 30th, the cull again started in Gloustershire. I felt I would like to do more than make donations and sign petitions, so late afternoon on the 31st August found me joining the M5 heading towards a predetermined meeting point of the Gloustershire Against Badger Shooting (GABS) group to offer some assistance in patrolling the cull areas. A 120 mile round trip from my home here in Staffordshire.  As I left the house, my wife gave me two instructions. 

1. "Remain law abiding.". - Not a problem, as GABS is a peaceful, law abiding campaign group. who ensure that their presence during cull periods is always via public footpaths.

2. “Look out for Brian May!”  I said I’d keep an eye out for him.

 

I was made very welcome on my arrival by a group of seasoned GABS volunteers. These people really deserve our thanks. Giving up their free time and patrolling large areas of countryside at their own expense in all weathers. Staying out in the fields late into the night and still going to work in the morning. They try to be a constant presence during the cull periods, patrolling fields and monitoring setts in the cull areas every evening of the cull period in an attempt to save our badgers.

They were very well organized, and we were split into groups to cover different areas of the cull zones known to contain active setts.

 

On the night in question, no shooting was seen or heard in the area we covered. Active setts were checked and we had a good walk around the fields and footpaths by torchlight. I particularly enjoyed walking in some outstanding countryside, seeing pipistrelle bats hunting around the fields and the great conversation. I also felt that I was helping in some small way.  We didn’t see any badgers and although I was very vigilant, I didn’t see Brian May either.

I would urge anyone who feels strongly against this cruel and inhuman culling policy to contact the Badger patrol and join them for an evening or two. It will be an experience you won’t forget, and you will meet some very friendly and like minded people. 

Like me, you may initially feel that turning up to assist the badger patrols for one night is an insignificant act in the grand scheme of things. However, the total sum of many small acts can bring about massive change, and that is exactly what our wildlife and specifically our badgers need. I encourage anyone with an interest in our countryside and the welfare of our badgers to take part in at least one evenings patrol in one of the  six target counties. You will I’m sure be made as welcome as I was. You will enjoy the company of like minded people while walking the countryside at night, you may even see a badger. So please give it a try and appreciate that you will be helping to save our badgers, and while you’re at it, don’t forget, keep an eye out for Brian!

 

 

Hares, Foxes and Badgers

It’s been over a month since I last posted anything on this blog. During that time, I have been putting any free moments into catching up with the local larger mammals on the patches I regularly walk. I have thought long and hard before posting these pictures as it inevitably leads to requests of “Where did you see these? I would like to see them myself.”

I decided I would share the pictures, I will not however share the whereabouts of any of the animals pictured. I hope you enjoy the photos and ask that you don’t put me in the position of refusing to share locations with you, as the way I refuse will almost certainly offend!

Hares are a real passion of mine. It always makes my day to encounter them when I’m out on my wanders and I am getting better at creeping up on them. I was worried at the beginning of the year that I had not seen many Hares on the land I walk. This is still true of areas that had a few last year but I have seen none this year. However, a couple of areas have produced the goods and I enjoy looking for the Hares in these areas. One spot has already seen the attention of two guys with running dogs, but they have now twice vacated the area quickly on my approach. They didn’t enjoy having the camera pointed at them and I have not seen them for a while. I would like to see these amazing creatures carry on and thrive in these areas.

 

The Foxes have been a little more difficult to track down. The first is a dog fox and one of a pair I have been watching. At first, he was hunting very frequently, obviously providing for the vixen while she was denning with cubs. Recently, I have found him occasionally laid out sunning himself, as it seems he in no longer the sole provider of food to his brood. What I believe to be his mate can now be relied upon to make an appearance if I am willing to be patient and wait for her. This regular vixen is in quite good condition and has obviously been suckling cubs. I have recently seen her hunting rabbits. Twice I have watched her successfully catch and carry off a rabbit I expect to her cubs. The cubs will be old enough now to be left for short periods and she will also now be hunting as she starts the process of weaning the cubs off her milk. Fresh caught prey will become rapidly more significant in the cubs diet now, so both parents hunting should provide for their needs in this rabbit rich environment. My view point for two of these foxes doesn’t allow for decent pictures. I’m facing the setting sun, there is too much undergrowth and bramble and they are a little distant. It’s not all about photographs though, that’s just I bonus if and when conditions allow.

The third fox looks quite young, probably one of last years cubs. This yearling on the face of it looked in very good condition initially, but I suspect it may have a problem. Foxes do go through a heavy summer moult and some can look pretty tatty at this time of year. This youngster is almost moulted out, but i’m a little concerned by the condition of its tail. It looks like it may be suffering from the early stages of mange. I will keep a look out for this individual and see how things progress.

• I have seen this yearling again and the tail is not looking any worse. It does have a covering of fur along its whole length, so i’m hoping this is just a moult. Mange symptoms do tend to start at the tail base, but there tends to be complete hair loss in the affected area. If it hangs around, I will keep an eye on its process.

 

 

Most of my free time though has been spent hoping to see some badger cubs above ground. They just cannot resist being above ground playing once they are about 12 - 14 weeks old. I have been watching a few Setts I am aware of, and eventually my patience paid off. I was pleased to get some decent daytime pictures of three cubs occasionally accompanied by mom playing in the late afternoon sun.

 

 To be in the close proximity of badgers as they go about their business is a real privilege and only makes my adoration of theses fascinating creatures stronger. I’m sure no-one  is under any illusion about the black cloud hanging over our nations badger population in the form of the governments badger cull. This ill thought out policy has failed on every level, including failing dismally to meet their own already low standards of what constitutes a humane death for the shooting of a free roaming badger. With absolutely no solid scientific evidence to prove badgers spread Bovine TB to cattle, and cases of Bovine TB actually rising in some cull areas, the government still seem hell bent own pursuing this abhorrent scheme.

The Badger Trust is fighting hard to change the mind of this government and bring this failing policy to an end. Any support that can be given to the Badger Trust is money being put to good use to save our badgers. 

I listened to Dominic Dyer, the CEO of the Badger Trust speak recently at a Badger Cull protest rally I attended in Leicester city centre. Of all the things he said, this one quote struck a chord with me, as it must have done with others as it appeared a lot on social media.

 

 

Check out the Badger Trust’s website for yourself and make your own mind up. If you agree with what they stand for, try and make a donation.

Click the banner to check out the Badger Trust Website.

 

 

Mixing it up

 It's been a week of messing about with different techniques to capture a few record shots of the local wildlife that I've been lucky enough to point a camera at.

It all started after work on Monday with a report of a Ring Ouzel! I rushed home from work for a change of clothes and to grab my binoculars and scope and was off. I located the Ring Ouzel, and the farmer upon whose land it was feeding gave me permission to cross his land to get a better view.

It remained distant and I didn't want to move it on by chasing it about so decided on using my scope and phone to capture a record shot.

Phonescoping again proving its value as a tool to keep in your armory for capturing pictures of a distant subject.

After enjoying the Phonescoping it encouraged me to set up my old Nikon P300 point and shoot camera and "Digidapter" made by Paul Sayegh. I decided to have a go capturing some images with my dedicated Digiscoping kit. I have been taking my scope out with me more often to scan the fields and hedgerows and thought it would make a change to use the little camera. If you are taking your scope, it’s nice to have an easy method of capturing what you are viewing if required.

 

 

 My Sunday morning wander about offered a few opportunities to put this set up through its paces. As with all my captures, I aim to get a record shot, but occasionally, if distances and conditions allow, I try for a "better" quality picture.

The Tree Sparrows and the Wheatear fall into the, just get a record shot category, the Corn Bunting is what I consider a better quality shot

Also, one evening after work I took my Canon G3X bridge camera for a spin. Pete had told me he had seen a Fox hunting an area we sometimes check out and I decided to head that way. I couldn’t believe my luck when I also witnessed a well conditioned fox also hunting the very same area. It eventually realized it had an audience and disappeared. It was in too much cover to try for a picture but I found out what it was so interested in. The area has quite a healthy rat population and it obviously fancied one for supper.

A Pair of Grebe on the river also made for an interesting evening.

I also managed to capture a local Hare on…….. film! That is still the word that springs to my mind, but what is the current accepted terminology? Captured on, photosensitive diodes, sensor, CCD, digitally? Film still sounds better to me. 

On top of that lot, I had a trail camera back in the area I picked the Otter up in last week, hoping it would again put in an appearance. No such luck though. However, Pete and I were again surprised at just how productive this clearing is when we checked the pictures to find another couple of surprises. 

We found the usual suspects we've been keeping an eye on.

The surprise visitors, a pair of Muntjac deer! 

Pete and I enjoyed going through all the pictures on the trail camera, all 1680 of them. We even found the ideal location to carry this task out. This could become a regular thing!

The Missing Season

It almost seems that we have jumped straight from Autumn into Spring. Apart from a couple of frosty starts and the lightest dusting of snow that soon vanished as temperatures quickly reached around 14ºC, it has predominantly been wet and mild.

Many plants and animals have been fooled into acting like it’s spring in these mild conditions, but there is still time for a proper cold snap to put this right and reset the calendar so to speak.

The fields are again full of ewes heavy in lamb, and we will soon be hearing their plaintive bleats, another event that signifies the onset of spring in my mind. This mild weather has done wonders for the grass, so the lactating ewes with have plenty of nutritional grazing. The other side of that coin is, I’m not sure my old lawnmower will manage the first cut of the year in the back garden. I wonder if I could borrow a sheep?

This weekend finds me full of cold and suffering like only a man can. I came home from work on Friday after valiantly struggling through the day and slumped on the settee feeling pretty sorry for myself. At around 8pm, I still hadn’t moved when I receive a phone call from my daughter to inform me of a road causality Badger she had spotted that looked like it was still moving. She was concerned but unable to stop on the busy road. That was enough to drag me off the settee and I followed her directions to the badger.

The road was unlit, fast, and the badger was on a blind bend. I drove past it and turned the car around. I managed to pull up close to it with my hazards on, but felt very exposed on the blind bend. I’m glad my daughter had more sense than to put herself in the position I was now in! I quickly checked the badger, it had not survived the collision, I then got myself out of the situation. I really didn’t fancy meeting a similar fate.

              Unfortunately, this is the only time most people get to see a Badger.

I had my trail camera and a few peanuts in the boot of the car, the cool evening rain and air had eased my headache and my breathing, so I decided to stay out a little longer. With badgers on my mind, I headed to my favorite little sett. I have mentioned this sett before, it is the one that was badly damaged last year. I didn’t see any badgers for a couple of months, but eventually, there were signs that at least one badger had returned.

It was raining heavily by the time i reached the sett, I placed the camera in a suitable spot, scattered a few peanuts about, then headed for home. I have only seen one badger since the sett was damaged. There were three in this small sett. I’m hoping the trail camera will reveal that there is more than just a solitary badger resident.

I had a terrible night, sleep just eluded me. Unable to breath, sneezing, coughing, I gave it up as a bad job and got up for a coffee about 4.00am. I read for a while and then at around 5.30am, headed off to check the camera out and see what activity there had been. I arrived at around 6.10am, I didn't encounter anything of mention on the walk down in the dark. I quickly flicked on my head torch and was disappointed to see the peanuts were still where I had spread them. I took the memory card out of the camera and again headed for home.

I was suprised to find on the memory card a badger picture!

If you look at the time recorded on the photo, it’s 6.02am. Just one badger and it probably encountered the peanuts on its return journey to the sett after a nights forging. I arrived here about 8 mins after this picture was captured. No doubt it heard me coughing and spluttering across the fields well before I got anywhere near and vacated the area. 

I do hope this badger isn’t the only inhabitant of this sett, I will keep an eye on things over the next few months.

 

Saturday morning and Pete and I visited Middleton RSPB for a wander about; we haven’t been for a while and it made a refreshing change. We had hoped that the Drake Smew reported on Friday was still about, but we didn’t locate it; we did however have our first Redpoll, Oystercatcher and Goldeneye of the year. As always, a great place to visit.

 

Badger Reclamation

A couple of months ago one of the Badger setts I keep an eye on experienced some serious disturbance. I don’t at this point believe it was an intentional act, more collateral damage from the carrying out of routine tasks on the land. The sett in question had been collapsed and practically filled in by being ploughed over while the field itself was being cultivated ready for its winter crop.

This is a small sett containing only three badgers, a large boar and two sows. For a couple of weeks after the damage to the sett, no badger sightings or activity was recorded. The well used latrines I am aware of remained unused, grass started to grow over once well used trails, and the sett main entrance remained blocked with soil. I feared the worst.

 

Then, one morning about three to four weeks after the damage, I noticed some fresh digging that had occurred at the damaged sett during my early morning walk. This gave me some hope that maybe this small colony of badgers had survived. The fresh workings had not reopened the old main entrance, but were tucked away under the hedgerow, it looked like the sett was being opened up again.

We walked the fields around the sett early mornings, evenings, and well into darkness hoping to see the badgers in the places I used to watch them. No badgers were seen!

Then a discovery, well away from the original sett in some sandy loose soil we found a blind sett. I felt this was probably temporary accommodation for a returning badger while the old sett was reworked and reopened.

A week later and I found another blind sett, dug in firmer soil, again, a fair way from the original sett.

A few more weeks slipped by and one morning I noticed that the new main entrance to the original sett had bedding material airing outside.

There were also footprints in some of the other tunnels.

So the good news is, there is still a fighting chance this sett will carry on housing badgers, but I still have concerns.

I have now had visual contact on several occasions over the last three weeks of the inhabitants of this sett, or to be more specific, inhabitant.

I have only seen the old boar and there have been no sightings of the two females. I am hoping that they are about. Maybe they are using one of the blind setts while the old sett is being repaired. I hope so! I will be keeping my eye on this sett, as I always do and hope to report that the family group have again taken up residence in the original sett.

Visual contact now gets more difficult as we are well into November. The temperatures have dropped and winter in beginning to make its presence felt. The badgers will spend more time below ground and their activities will become less predictable. They don’t hibernate, but in extreme conditions when food is scarce they will just conserve energy and stay curled up in the sett. If there are any female badgers still resident in this sett, they will give birth in Jan/Feb. I hope this is the case.

By March the boar will also become more active and will patrol his territory looking for females. This boar has show he is a resilient old fellow, and if the original females are no more, I hope he finds more on his spring travels and hopefully, they repopulate this little sett.

 

Posted with Blogsy

Another interesting weekend

As is usually the way, that weekend feeling began to sweep over me as soon as I left work on Friday. I am trying to photograph some badgers with normal photographic equipment rather that a trail camera. It is proving to be a bit of a challenge, but I am enjoying trying to get some results. As I drove home, my thoughts turned to which of the Setts we are aware of would give me the best chance of getting some better quality pictures. 

By 7pm I had made my decision and set off armed with my camera and a plan. I arrived at the location at about 7.45pm and straight away had mixed feelings about the success of this evenings plans. Although it was now dark, it was still light enough to make out a large badger that was already going about its business about 90 yards out in a field of stubble. I enjoyed watching it amble about, but I knew that if it spooked, it would be unlightly to return anytime soon to have its picture taken.  I attempted to set up my camera as quietly at possible, but this badger knew something was amiss and dashed back towards the sett. It stopped short of the sett and turned to face in my direction. It was very unlightly it could see me, their eyesight is pretty poor, but maybe it could smell me, and it had definitely heard me. 

It didn't go to ground, but sloped off with no sense of urgency in a direction that put distance between us until it vanished into the shadows. As it hadn't rushed to ground in panic, I hoped it may return, or maybe, hopefully, some of its sett mates, but I kind of knew an appearance this side of midnight was going to be unlightly. It never works out well when the badgers are out and about before you arrive. 

At around 8.30pm a movement caught my eye and I turned to see a Barn Owl hunting along the field edge. I was sat well back under a large Oak tree with my back to the trunk still hoping for the return of the badger. The Owl flew out into the stubble field and even in the dark my binoculars gathered enough light to allow me to watch it hunt. It dropped into the stubble and then rose up a foot of so, dropping back down hard onto the stubble. It did this twice more then stayed on the ground, its wings slightly spread. After a few seconds it flapped, took flight and rose up from the ground. It moved quickly and I soon lost it in the darkness. Imagine my surprise when it suddenly reappeared right in front of me! If silently flew under the canopy of the tree I was sitting under and perched on a branch about 6ft above my head. It stayed for a few minutes, but I feel it sensed something wasn't quite right. It took flight again and as it silhouetted against the skyline, I could see the rodent it held in its left talons. 

At around 10.30pm the Barn Owl returned and perched on a fence post about 70 yards from where I sat. I kept checking with the binoculars as I scanned the area for the hoped for approaching badgers and it stayed on this perch for at least 30 mins. At just gone 11pm while checking for badgers I noticed it had dissapered. 

 

As expected, no further badger activity was observed and at around midnight I quietly packed up and headed for home. 

I already had plans for Saturday morning. Pete had found a spot on one of our local patches that shows signs of feeding activity each morning. It isn't close to any sett we are aware of, but it looks like badgers are foraging in the area. We had set a trail camera up last weekend and it had been in situ for a week. We were looking forward to seeing what if anything it had captured

 Trail Camera and the peanut burying trowel. 

Well, the trail camera had taken 160 pictures. Most of them were mice and squirrels! However, a Fox put in an appearance one night, and a solitary badger visited the area every evening. 

 

 

 

 

 

We were surprised to have captured a pair of Muntjac one evening too. 

 

So now it's back to trying to photograph a badger with my actual camera rather than my trail camera. Succeed or fail, I will no doubt enjoy trying.