Comments for Tales from the Wood - The Diary of a Badger Watching Man http://badgerwatcher.com Personal experiences of a (very) amateur naturalist Wed, 27 Feb 2013 19:56:28 +0000 hourly 1 http://wordpress.com/ Comment on How to Recognise a Badger Sett by gerry dunn http://badgerwatcher.com/2010/02/21/how-to-recognise-a-badger-sett/#comment-16762 Wed, 27 Feb 2013 19:56:28 +0000 http://badgerwatcher.com/?p=1615#comment-16762 I have recently watched a badger attacking my chickens and we have even lost a few ducks which i think was probably the same badger, is this normal behaviour or do i have a rouge badger, I have been living in the countryside for 7 years and though the fox has done a few I was amazed to see the badger at it!! Whats its problem?

]]> Comment on How to Recognise a Badger Sett by Diane Edwards http://badgerwatcher.com/2010/02/21/how-to-recognise-a-badger-sett/#comment-16688 Tue, 26 Feb 2013 11:16:21 +0000 http://badgerwatcher.com/?p=1615#comment-16688 Thank you! I have recognized all the points to look for and now know that i have a badger set on the edge of the wood behind our house. They did dig under our fence this winter and i still didn’t catch a glimpse. Sadly on Sunday morning i found that the set had been dug into from two sides, one of the holes was huge and the culprits had replaced the turf. I felt sick to think that these horrible butchering thugs had probably released terriers down into the set. I have reported my findings to the RSPCA but as yet an officer has not been to inspect. I spoke to our local shepherd and he saw a vehicle near the site on the Saturday afternoon. The site was active as the badgers had been digging under the oak trees for worms etc. a few days before. Sadly now instead of viewing a site of peaceful wonder i am left with a mental image of one of the most cruel and barbaric blood sports and i wonder if they have survived or if their souls have taken residence above as surely God must love a badger

]]> Comment on Last of the snow tracks – the New Jersey mystery by Steve http://badgerwatcher.com/2010/01/17/last-of-the-snow-tracks-the-new-jersey-mystery/#comment-16227 Mon, 18 Feb 2013 02:00:08 +0000 http://badgerwatcher.com/?p=1566#comment-16227 Opossum tracks

]]> Comment on At last – Bedfordshire Red Kites by Merryl Jenkins http://badgerwatcher.com/2012/01/04/at-last-bedfordshire-red-kites/#comment-16123 Fri, 15 Feb 2013 10:18:41 +0000 http://badgerwatcher.com/?p=2590#comment-16123 We saw a red kite over Great Brickhill just north of Leighton Buzzard a few days ago and every time we’ve crossed the deer park at Woburn Abbey in the past two months, we’ve seen a kite. Absolutely wonderful.

]]> Comment on What time do badgers come out? by David Moore http://badgerwatcher.com/what-time-do-badgers-come-out/#comment-15836 Fri, 01 Feb 2013 10:46:31 +0000 http://badgerwatcher.com/#comment-15836 Hi we had a badger in our paddock on Wednesday 30th january 2013, at 11h00 it looked healthy and was happily foraging, it came within 3m of me when I deliberately made it aware that I was there, it moved away a couple of metres and then carried of looking for his lunch but not before we got some video footage and lots of photographs. We sighted another (possibly the same one) last night 31st, at 17h00 in another paddock, both paddocks edge the house which would have placed the badger no further than 5 – 10 metres from the building.
This is only the second time we have had badgers so close to the house in the 11 years of living here and never in the daytime.

Thanks

David Moore
Aberdeenshire

]]> Comment on What time do badgers come out? by joe http://badgerwatcher.com/what-time-do-badgers-come-out/#comment-15540 Thu, 24 Jan 2013 17:32:53 +0000 http://badgerwatcher.com/#comment-15540 Good site, just got a letter from the department of agriculture in ireland, looking for badger setts on my land…..i wonder why? i hope they are not going to cull them or something…i found a few setts, i only ever seen a badger twice. But i know they are there.

]]> Comment on About badgers by Charlotte Hoare http://badgerwatcher.com/about-badgers/#comment-15250 Fri, 18 Jan 2013 09:28:46 +0000 http://badgerwatcher.wordpress.com/?page_id=208#comment-15250 Dear Sir,

My name is Charlotte Hoare and I am a student at Hereford Sixth Form College, studying towards becoming a vet.
I have recently began my EPQ (extended project qualification), an independent investigation on a topic of my choice. I have decided to investigate the question –
“Is badger culling the answer to TB in cattle?”
In order to gather information for this study I have created a simple online questionnaire. I am hoping to receive as many responses as possible so it would be very kind of you if you could also inform your colleagues about my questionnaire so I can benefit from as many responses as possible which will increase the validity of my study.

I would be extremely grateful if you could please find the time to complete the questionnaire for me. I have a deadline to work to so I would like all of the questionnaires completed by 1st February if possible.

Thank you.
Yours faithfully,

Charlotte Hoare

Please click the hyperlink to view the questionnaire:
http://www.surveymonkey.com/s/XQ6TCKS

]]> Comment on How to Recognise a Badger Sett by Heckle http://badgerwatcher.com/2010/02/21/how-to-recognise-a-badger-sett/#comment-14985 Sun, 13 Jan 2013 21:16:31 +0000 http://badgerwatcher.com/?p=1615#comment-14985 I bought a 7 acre grazing field in Oct 2012 for my pet bullocks which has a brook on the west side and a strip of mature woodland along the west and northwest sides.
There are several well worn animal paths across the field which has not had livestock on it for a long time (just used for hay crops) and one led me to a several holed badger sett in the woodland! How exciting to have badgers on my own land – and I’m a first time landowner!

The setts are in a wooded bank that slopes down to the brook so it’s a typical badger spot from your info.

Obviously I will be a bit apprehensive about any contact they could have with my bullocks from a potential TB point of view, but before they move there I will fence the bullocks in a way to minimise contact opportunities without disturbing the many paths of the badgers or their sett.

As further confirmation, I heard and briefly saw a flash of a badger in the woodland strip at lunchtime today.

]]> Comment on How to Recognise a Badger Sett by colin http://badgerwatcher.com/2010/02/21/how-to-recognise-a-badger-sett/#comment-14316 Sat, 29 Dec 2012 20:57:21 +0000 http://badgerwatcher.com/?p=1615#comment-14316 HHi we have shed in the garden raised off ground and boarded around base. At the rear of shed,the private part, there is a hole in wood surround ‘ and clearly a hole under shed floor. The hole has been blocked with leaves etc from inside. There is r holes nearby also behind shed . they r 14 . 18 inches across and a foot or slightly shallower deep. A large pile of dirt at base of hole. No footprints visible although scrape marks but it has been raining atad I thought fox because I did find a dead one in shed that had mange about 18 myths ago. Do u think I have badgers

]]> Comment on Fieldnotes: 21st April 2012 – First Cub of the Year by andy little http://badgerwatcher.com/2012/04/21/fieldnotes-21st-april-2012-first-cub-of-the-year/#comment-13391 Wed, 19 Dec 2012 20:32:37 +0000 http://badgerwatcher.com/?p=2770#comment-13391 hello i,m after a bit of advice if you could help. i,v just bought a spy cam for watching nature up to now all i,v got on vidio is a load of pheasants and a dear but while out walking in my local hills i,v found a badger set. it looks like its being lived in because there is a freshly dug hole with no leaves on the soil and tracks between each hole.Do you think it would be ok to set my spy cam near it.

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