Date: 23rd November 2020
Time: from 4:30 p.m.
Weather: dry, cloudy, dark, 9°C
My last 2 evening visits on 7th November 2020
and 10th November 2020 provided no sightings at all of the Badgers and I
have still not seen them since the day after National Badger Day on 7th October 2020.
As always, when I arrived at the site, I scattered some
chopped apple, peanuts and dog biscuits at the usual location. I then settled
down to wait to see if the Badgers would emerge.
However, yet again, in 1.5 hours, I unfortunately failed to see
a single Badger.
This is now the third successive evening visit that
there has been a “no show”.
In my last blog post, I commented:
Since early June, when I first started watching
them, I have only had one “no show” on my many evening visits. I am not sure why tonight was a “no show”.
Maybe it was just a matter of bad luck. There are no guarantees with wildlife
watching but, other than that one previous occasion, I have always seen at
least one Badger within 30 minutes to an hour of darkness
falling. Maybe the Badgers have become so disturbed and
frightened by the noise of fireworks which started well before 5th November 2020 that their behaviour has changed and
they have been emerging much later in the evening or in the middle of the night
when the fireworks ceased. I will obviously try again over the coming days and
weeks and see what occurs.
Plan A used to be so reliable …. arrive at site …. scatter the Badger "buffet" …. watch Red Foxes in the last half hour before darkness …. relocate and wait for Badgers to emerge …. watch Badgers within 30 minutes of darkness falling …. return home after sharing the “twilight time” with a Badger .... and repeat on the next evening visit.
I need a plan B although I am not
sure what that is. It is obviously getting darker many hours earlier now
compared with the summer months so maybe I will try arriving at the site at
around 8 p.m. rather than 4:30 p.m. when it will perhaps be a little quieter around the area.
Whilst I saw 3 Red Foxes
during my visit earlier in the day, surprisingly I had no sightings at all
during my evening visit. As far as I can recall, this is the first time that an
evening visit has failed to produce a single Red Fox.
With regard to birds, I heard
several Robins and Blackbirds alarm calling
before they settled down to roost for the night.
It was mainly overcast and cloudy
during my visit. However, as on my last evening visit, it did clear slightly
during some of the time to reveal Jupiter and Saturn still in close conjunction in the
southern sky.
Species recorded during this visit were as follows (heard only records in italics):
Robin
Blackbird
Site totals to date:
Birds = 50
Mammals = 6
Butterflies = 21
Dragonflies and
damselflies = 7
Reptiles = 1
Amphibians = 0
No comments:
Post a Comment
If you feel like commenting on my blog, you can contact me by completing the comment form below. I will respond to all comments and enquiries and constructive criticism will always be welcomed.