Date: 16th April 2021
Time: from 8 p.m.
Weather: dry, sunny, dark, 7°C
On my recent visits during the day to
the site, I have noticed that the spoil heap outside one of the Badger sett
entrance/exit holes has shown up tracks. It is evidently an active area for
potentially seeing Badgers but a different location from that which I
watched on a regular basis last summer.
Therefore, for the first time this
year, I took some dog food, dog biscuits and peanuts in the hope of attracting the
attention of a Badger with its remarkable sense of smell. Unfortunately it didn't work!
I accessed the site via the track by Larkins
Tyres and whilst it was still light I saw a Red Fox in the area of scrub
and bushes immediately next to it. It spotted me and we both watched each other for a couple of minutes before boredom set in (the Red Fox, not me) and it wandered off.
As I walked up towards and through
the cemetery, the sound of a “barking” Reeves’ Muntjac became louder and
louder and was evidently coming from the area of bushes and trees at the
extreme western end of the cemetery. It was soon joined by another “barking” Reeves’
Muntjac and both animals continued to “bark” either to or at one another for some
30 minutes until it was almost dark.
On reaching the sett entrance, I
baited it with the dog food, dog biscuits and peanuts. Within 15 minutes of sitting,
watching and waiting, a Red Fox appeared out of the darkness and clearly
caught the smell of the dog food. However, it must have either seen or heard me
and as it panicked and ran off.
A further hour of waiting for the
emergence of a Badger proved to be unsuccessful so it was my third successive
visit this year where I failed and it remains an elusive species still waiting
to be added to my site list for the year.
This watching location is also
proving to be problematic compared to last year’s location since it falls in to
almost complete darkness whereas my location last year had the very slight
illumination of street lights. I am therefore looking in to buying some night
vision optics although I am not sure the expense can be justified unless the Badgers
do the decent thing and put in an appearance!
With regard to birds, a short evening
chorus prior to full darkness falling comprised the usual expected species: Robin, Blackbird and Song Thrush.
Species recorded
during this visit were as follows (heard only records in italics):
Site totals to date (2021 totals in brackets):
Birds = 52
(38)
Mammals = 6 (4)
Butterflies = 21 (4)
Dragonflies and damselflies = 7 (0)
Reptiles = 1 (0)
Amphibians = 0 (0)
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