Date: 7th October 2020
Time: from 6:30 p.m.
Weather: dry, cloudy, dark, 14°C
Yesterday was National Badger Day …. see here.
Unfortunately, I was unable to visit my local Badgers last night and celebrate with them so hopefully they did not feel too neglected.
I have no idea how a neglected Badger reacts 😀 .... is it angry, does it sulk, does it move home, does it submit a complaint to Dominic Dyer at the Badger Trust? 😀😀😀 .... apparently none of these reactions since I had yet another successful evening visit following my last on 29th September 2020.
Tonight was very overcast and cloudy so unlike my last visit, the Moon, Jupiter, Saturn and Mars were all hidden from view.
When I arrived at the site, I scattered some chopped apple, peanuts and dog biscuits at the usual location where the Badgers emerge.
Before settling down to wait for
the Badgers, I sat at my regular location where I could watch the
grassy strip that runs parallel to Church Hill down to St. Nicholas Lane, a
normally reliable area to see Red Foxes.
I immediately saw a Red Fox walking slowly right at the bottom of the grassy strip before it disappeared in to the hedge. At 6:35 p.m., what I assumed was a different Red Fox appeared much closer at the top of the grassy strip and at the edge of the car park. This animal had a particularly large and bright white tip to its tail.
Shortly after this at 6:50 p.m. 2 people appeared in the grassy strip with a dog and it seemed likely that the noise and disturbance would see an end to watching Red Foxes. However, as soon as they left the area, a Red Fox again appeared briefly and crossed the grassy strip.
As on my last visit, I was not very optimistic about seeing Badgers tonight. Immediately after seeing the Red Fox, a pick-up vehicle drove up Church Hill and parked outside the church. Two men got out and proceeded to place small blinking red and white lights at regular intervals all the way back down Church Hill to St. Nicholas Lane. All very curious! They then put on red and green blinking arm bands. Even more curious!
About 5 minutes later, 5 young women wearing green blinking knee bands walked up Church Hill to join the 2 men. There was a lot of loud talking and laughing before the women ran back down Church Hill and then ran back up with the vocal encouragement of the 2 men. Clearly this was some kind of training exercise since it repeated itself regularly. It did not augur well for the emergence of the Badgers due to the amount of ongoing noise.
However, a Badger did appear at 7:15 p.m. although it remained largely hidden at the edge of the hedge. It was clearly very nervous and continually sniffed the air, clearly aware of the training exercise that was still going on. It returned to the safety of the hedge but just a few minutes later, it appeared again but demonstrated the same anxiety and quickly disappeared from view.
At the third time of asking (hoping), it fully emerged and began eating the “buffet” that I had laid out. I think this was the same Badger that I saw on my last evening visit, judging by its size and broad head (an assumed boar or male). Very quickly, another Badger appeared at the edge of the hedge but, after much sniffing of the air, it was obviously too nervous and it immediately returned to the safety of the hedge and disappeared.
I was able to watch the first Badger continuously for 35 minutes as it gratefully munched its way through the “buffet” and approached closer and closer to me. However, at 7:50 p.m., someone walking close by caused it to panic and it bolted for the cover of the hedge. It quickly re-emerged and walked back to where it was last feeding. At the same time, another Badger emerged, possibly the same animal that I had already seen briefly given that it again appeared to be very nervous (the noise of the training exercise was still going on).
At 7:55 p.m., I had a momentary sighting of a Red Fox which seemed like it was keen to approach the area where the Badger was feeding but I think it spotted me and ran off. However, at 8:00 p.m., it, or possibly a different Red Fox, appeared at the edge of the car park before disappearing in to the darkness of the grassy strip area.
Shortly afterwards, another Badger, again possibly the same animal, emerged and appeared more confident in approaching what was left of the “buffet”. This animal appeared smaller and with a narrower head than the larger Badger that was by this time feeding within about 15 feet of me so it was possibly a sow (female).
Both Badgers were present feeding for about 5 minutes before the larger animal decided he had eaten enough and walked slowly back to the hedge and disappeared from view. The smaller Badger continued to feed on what was left of the “buffet” (probably not much given the amount of time that I had seen the larger Badger feeding) before it too returned to the hedge.
By 8:15 p.m., the early evening Badger action appeared to be over (as was the training exercise) and I got up from my watching position to return home after another evening sharing the "twilight time" with Badgers.
With regard to birds, I heard several Robins both singing and alarm calling as usual, briefly heard a calling Woodpigeon and saw a small group of flyover Carrion Crows.
As I walked home, I had a quick scan of the playing field opposite Laindon Park School with my torch and, as on my last evening visit, picked up another Red Fox.
Species recorded during this visit were as follows (heard only records in italics):
Site totals to date:
Birds = 49
Mammals = 6
Butterflies = 21
Dragonflies and damselflies = 7
Reptiles = 1
Amphibians = 0
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