Destructive tendencies

The badgers are being consistently fed and yet they cannot curb their destructive tendencies. Not only have they excavated another huge hole in the pursuit of the rat but they've also tipped over and torn apart the planter on the playhouse porch. More and more holes have been dug not just in the lawn but all around the flowerbeds. Curiously they've pushed their visiting time back to around 17.30 but the inclement weather may have had something to do with that, although they're quite happy to feed in the driving rain. It'll be interesting to see if they embrace brussel sprouts in the same way they've enjoyed the other roasted vegetables we've put out.

More digging

So the activity continues, with Greedy and Smudge visiting every night, they've just had to adjust their timings more radically to the point that they now come 5 hours earlier than they did in August, quite amazing behaviour really. It does make it harder to observe them and some days it's a struggle to make sure the food is out there for when they arrive; the earliest they've been is 17:10.

Not satisfied with the food put out for them they occasionally go on the rampage and this time create a hole, just over a foot deep in the opposite direction to their previous excavation. They could be after a rat, they could be looking to build a new sett, but either way they are destructive. In the front garden under the fir tree they have created a latrine, which has been used a few times now and there are still holes all over the back lawn. Thankfully they've left the newly planted daffodils alone for now.

Excavation

It was just 18:15 when the badgers turned up today. I'm convinced they are a male and female just because of the sheer difference in size. Smudge is the size of an adult bulldog and yet Greedy in similar to a cat in size. Earlier in the week they seem to have got wind of what I assume is a rat hole at the end of the garden and gone digging. I hadn't realised they eat mice and rats but apparently so according to www.badgerland.co.uk. Here's a picture of their efforts:

Dirty badgers

The appearances have been like clockwork recently with Smudge and Greedy turning up exactly on dusk. Sometimes they boldly storm across the lawn, other times they run the perimeter around the pond and under the Mexican Blossom before attacking the peanuts. Not sure what they'd been up to at the weekend but they were both filthy, any of the normal white stripes being a light grey. Perhaps there'd been some extensive excavating of a new wing in the sett. The neighbourhood cat made an early appearance to chance his arm for a chunk of dog food but soon retreated when the badgers were in striking distance.

Testing time

Although badger viewing is becoming more difficult as the evenings get darker earlier (they visit just after 18:30 these days), it seems only fair to make things more interesting with some tests. The first one has been easy for them to solve and it has involved a plastic pet bowl being placed over the badger box, hiding the dog food. The first night one of them approached it very wearily and had a good sniff around before bluntly knocking the whole lot on its side and exposing the food. The second night there was no caution and the food bowl was flipped off in an instant. It's now got to the point that they are working on how to get the bowl off without dropping it in the badger box and slowing their feasting down. Must try harder with the tests.....

Beyond the badgers

So whilst the badgers continue to arrive around dusk they have competition in the shape of a neighbourhood cat who has realised there might be milk or dog food on offer, so it keeps chancing its paws. That said, there is little in the way of confrontation. Most of the time the badgers work on the peanuts until the cat's had its fill or the badgers get within a foot or so.

Badgers aside, yesterday saw a nice treat whilst out pruning the apple tree. In a moment of stillness the playful chirruping of Long Tailed Tits could be heard and before long there were skittering around the freshly chopped branches in search of bugs. They really are beautiful creatures up close, given such character by their outlandishly long tails. This viewing was then enhanced as two Goldcrests flitted around the fir tree. One or two have been witnessed in the past but never together and never at such close range. A beautiful moment in the garden.

Good neighbours

The badger's internal clocks have really moved dramatically over the past eight weeks and they now visit (or at least the greediest does) around 18:45. Most recently, when some leftover cereal and milk was put out with the usual dog food and peanuts, we observed one badger eating the dog food, one eating the peanuts and a local neighbourhood cat sat lapping up the milk. The three creatures completely ignored each other and there was no visible tension, just the three of them doing what they needed to do. The cat finished its milk, looked at the badgers and then sauntered away.

Defensive move

Just the two of them the past couple of nights, with Greedy getting the lion's share, but last night stood our due to an error on my part. The food was out, and it was dark, and so as not to disturb them I went out to the garage by the front door, but when returning used the back door. I rounded the corner of the house and sent Smudge barrelling down the garden in surprise but Greedy was less interested in giving up his feast. He reared up and hissed loudly at me, even doing a mock lunge. I took one step forwards, only to receive a second hiss, and then decided to retreat and leave them to it. A great demonstration of how ferocious they can be when cornered, I'll try avoiding that in the future.

Interloper perhaps?

So come 19:30 at least one of the badgers is pitching up and feasting on everything, generally it's Greedy and sometimes he's been joined by Smudge but most of the time he is the early bird. A few nights ago they were done by 20:00 but later that evening a lone large badger was skulking around the garden and when disturbed he bolted through the hole in the fence. It could be he's from the sett over on the heath, which would be interesting and would explain why he was on his own 2 hours after the others. Who knows?

Leftover milk and soggy Cheerios are a delight lapped up with passion now, sometimes even before the dogfood is consumed!

Captain is back...Super Sub returns

Like Carlos Tevez returning from South America after a long protest, the Captain is back and he is a welcome addition to the team. Returning after a three week absence, Captain sauntered into the garden last night, ten minutes after Greedy and Smudge had begun their feasting. Captain took a while to check out the area and snuck up the border under cover of bushes, before joining. And when he did arrive he made his presence felt. There are different approaches to the badger box:

Greedy - slow and then a head butt or body slam to gain prime position
Smudge - the box must be completely free of a rival and even then it will be a casual move
Captain - from three feet away he sprints, leading with his head to knock the rival aside, generally it'll be a smash and grab and then off on his own to eat his winnings

It made for more squabbles than we've seen for many weeks but Captain is a welcome return and adds to the mix in the garden.

Absence makes the heart grow fonder?

We were unable to feed the badgers for a couple of days and feared they had deserted us when, on Sunday evening, they did not make an appearance before nightfall. They may have come after dark or a wandering cat had the bonanza of stumbling across the badger box of dog food. Out faith was restored when Smudge and Greedy (as named by the niece and nephew) arrived just after 20:00. Greedy was particularly partial to the leftover rice-crispies and milk whilst Smudge made short work of the scattered peanuts. It did not take them long to polish off the remaining dog food before they were gone into the night again. It will be interesting to see if they move much earlier as the nights draw in or whether there is a threshold time at which they stop coming out. The knowledge suggests that come November we will see them less as they tend to spend more time in the sett and less time out foraging but if they know they're onto a good thing maybe they'll still come to visit.

A cheddar by any other name

Just after 20:00 two badgers turned up last night and were very polite with the distribution of food. One had the peanuts, the other had the dog food and then they came to blows over the leftover mini Cheddars! Not sure whether it was the Cheese and Onion and just the Cheese flavour which caused the disagreement but it was not full body slamming today but skull bashing. The two of them were opposite each other, noses in the box and just bashed each other as they rummaged for treats. No time is wasted and by 20:30 they were gone. It does seem as though the larger of the two has a distinctive dark smudge on the white strip down the middle of its forehead.

As for Captain and his absence, it occurred to me that maybe he has gone off to strike out on his own in the big wide world, but I need to do some research to see whether that is something they do.

Issues of abandonment

We were away for two nights and the badgers made their disapproval known. Not only were there a greater number of holes dug in the lawn, but only one of them bothered to turn up in reasonable light on the Sunday. That one had a good feed and was only joined by a companion when it was properly dark. They hadn't missed us in a truly emotional way, just their chance of an effortless feed. Still only two turning up though, which is odd because for so long it was all three, all the time. Not sure if Captain was amongst those there last night. The wife fears the worst but we're in cul-de-sac suburbia with a low level of traffic and slow traffic at that so hopefully it's down to fear or food elsewhere.

Patchy attendance

The behaviour has slightly changed over the last couple of nights with only one badger coming to visit on Tuesday evening and just two on Wednesday. Prior to that one would appear and then the others would follow but on Tuesday the lone badger had the entire box to itself. On Wednesday the two of them appeared together just after 20:00 and there was a comfortable arrangement as one went around eating the peanuts the other worked its way through the dog food in the badger box. Strangely the one eating the loose peanuts seemed to lay down and just moved its head lazily back and forth. It was obviously quite relaxed. It will be interesting to see just how early they get in their visits as it gets dark earlier and earlier. In just two weeks their visiting times have moved forwards by 90 minutes. Despite all the food being put out they obviously cannot resist the hunt for a worm or two as there are still craters being dug in the lawn on a regular basis.

Feeding stops for nothing

It was questionable whether the badgers would make it last night given the pouring rain but they did not let us down. Just after 20:00 one bedraggled looking badger (in our efforts to identify them this one seems to have a distinctive white tip to its tail, whereas Captain has the white band at the base of his tail and the other one has white splodges along its tail) appeared and began eating the peanuts. It really has been evident that the peanuts are the prize, despite the contents of the badger box, and no matter what, these are eaten first. It then did a smash and grab on lumps of bread in the box, snatching a chunk before running under the bush to eat it. Whether this was to shelter from the rain or hide from any potential predators is another question.

After ten minutes the other two emerged, there was a bit of a standoff and then the remaining peanuts were eaten before the usual fight for the badger box took place. Further reading has suggested that the males have longer, thinner tails and the females have shorter, stubbier tails and so we've been trying to use that as a guide but it's not been so straightforward. We're fairly confident Captain is a male, and the largest of the three both has the size and tale traits to be a male, with the suggestion that the third is a female. We need to spend longer studying them and finding out more about the traits of each sex, because the other identifier, head/snout size, seems very difficult to use as an indicator.

Additional food stuffs devoured:

Rice
Mince
Mushrooms
Bread

Lone pathfinder...

....or just a selfish greedy badger. Saturday night saw just one of the badgers turn up just after 20:00 and have the badger box all to itself for 20 minutes before Captain and the last badger arrived. They were fairly cordial about sharing the contents but by that time the raw eggs, baked beans and coronation chicken had all but disappeared. On Sunday two emerged together before the third popped up 5 minutes later. Their defence of the badger box is quite skillful to watch, they move their bodies like the hand on a clock, keeping their snouts firmly buried in the food, so as to block any attacking move from the other badgers. Occasionally it descends into a little fight and one gets a nip but rarely does it go beyond that. We've been trying to see if there is some sort of hierarchy amongst the three of them but there is nothing consistent. Captain showed dominance last night and held control of the badger box for a long time compared to the others but he is not the largest of the three and by no means always gets his own way. We're still waiting for the other two to show identifiable characteristics before we name them.

Nights are closing in

Despite the light rain the badgers were onsite by 20:15 last night, the same three as always, hungrily eating the peanuts before fighting over the dog food and leftover baked beans. More rump-slamming as they tried to get the treasures from the bottom of the badger box but there was clearly no interest in the new potatoes.

Dog food

You know that things are starting to get slightly out of hand when your wife greets the badger's arrival with the welcome of "Hello children," and this is only exacerbated when she returns from the shops weighed down with cans of cheap dog food.

The obligatory peanuts were scattered and then a mixture of Ryvita and dog food filled the badger box. It wasn't even 21:00 and the three of them wandered in. Strangely, given their strong sense of smell, they ensured they'd devoured all of the peanuts before investigating the badger box and the treats held within. It started gently with one nosing around in the meat, and then two of them seemed to find a happy middle ground, both snouts buried, but when the third tried to get involved it all went crazy. He bundled over the top of the other two, flopped down the other side and then Captain pushed off down the garden with his snout still deep in the box. Dog meat and Ryvita went everywhere and whilst two of them slammed their rumps into each other the remaining badger quietly snuffled his way through a pile on the grass. It took them less than ten minutes to consume the two cans of dog food and they were as close to licking the box clean as could be expected of a wild animal. I think it's safe to say they enjoyed it.

Squirrel sidebar

Not badgers but Red Squirrels....

Saturday was spent over on Brownsea Island and our expectations were low for seeing any significant wildlife because there were plenty of people about but we were pleasantly surprised. It is somewhat artificial in that the Dorset Wildlife Trust keep the bird feeders well stocked and therefore the Red Squirrels capitalise on this but it does mean that visitors get an incredibly close view of the creatures. You can sit on a bench just feet from them and it's only sudden movements that cause them to bolt.

The bird life is equally rewarding with Blue Tits, Great Tits, Chaffinches and Nuthatches paying frequent visits to the feeders. A short walk down the board-walk into the reed bed hide revealed four Grey Herons and a couple of Little Egrets, but no Water Rail or Water Vole this time. This is all irrespective of the main lagoon where there was a veritable feast of Gulls, Common Redshanks, Common Sandpipers, Oystercatchers, Spoonbills, Cormorants, Avocet and Sanderlings.

To cap it all a young Sika deer wandered around the area just near the Red Squirrels, and was quite nonchalant in its behaviour.

And to finish things off a Common Lizard and its young were sunning themselves by the path leading back from the villa, a very satisfying visit.

Corn robber

The peanuts and badger box went out around 20:30 and the badgers were on post by 21:00, the evenings getting darker earlier is prompted them to get out of the sett much sooner these days. The box had meagre pickings, some baked beans, a few pieces of pasta and the remains of a corn on the cob. The cob was initially ignored in favour of the pasta and peanuts but once they'd gone one of the badgers made a play. Clutching one end of the cob in its mouth, head tipped back, it bolted for the Mexican Blossom and was not seen for ten minutes.

Whilst the cob was quietly consumed the others munched their way through the peanuts and gave us a chance to try and identify individuals. The facial markings seem too similar to really pick each one out but the tails do give a better idea. One, the largest, has a ring of white hair around the base of its tail and so 'Captain' is formally christened. The others need to distinguish themselves before they are named.

Now and then they all disappeared under the bush and squeals could be heard as they fought over the corn cob and then one made a dash for it, cob held high, and trotted back down the side of the playhouse. The other two finally appeared, looked around for their mate, had a long drink at the pond and then wandered off down the side of the house.

Salad days

It has been interesting to see what the badgers enjoy feasting upon and what they bluntly refuse. Last night the badger box was mostly filled with leftover salad bits, baked beans and ryvita. The baked beans were top of the list, closely followed by the ryvita which turned out to be a coveted treat, although there was some difficulty in carrying it. We've noticed than when one of them stumbles onto something particularly tasty, they scurry off under the Mexican Orange Blossom bush for some privacy. It's not just this though, it is the manner in which they carry the food. They clench it in their mouths and tip their heads back as if trying to balance a ball carefully on the end of their nose. It all looks a bit odd as their head almost looks graceful but the body plods on along behind, tail wagging.

So here is the list to date of likes and dislikes:

Likes
All meat products
Pasta
Noodles
Baked beans
Bread
Cherry tomatoes (although they've not quite worked out how to eat them)
Cucumber
All cereals
Biscuits

Dislikes
Bean sprouts
Onion
Lettuce

Last night the three of them turned up early, just after 21:00. Whilst one of them nosed through the badger box looking for treats the others hurriedly hoovered up the peanuts. This was a smash and grab, once they'd realised there was no meat available.

...and so it begins

This is the start of a record of the adventures of the Bearwood Badger family in our back garden.

After several months of the lawn being peppered with holes, most of which were beyond the ability of the visiting Green Woodpecker, my daughter and I began scattering peanuts outside the conservatory door. I'd caught fleeting glimpses of an animal sprinting across the grass in the darkness but it could just have well as been a cat. It became a regular thing to check the peanuts in the morning and they'd magically disappeared. But without being totally convinced the vigil began and within a week the peanut-eaters had been identified - the badgers were here!

Every night at 21:00 we scatter peanuts on the lawn and put any leftovers in the badger box and then most nights they'll saunter out from the side of the playhouse and begin their snuffling. Sometimes it's just one of them, most of the time it is three, but the record has been six badgers at once. That was the day it all went a little bit crazy, there were badgers everywhere and it's possible they'd even freaked themselves out. One went careening across the grass, jumped the tall grasses around the pond and landed in the middle of the water. Two stumbled around behind the gooseberries whilst the others fought over the peanuts on the conservatory steps. Since then we've not seen more than three badgers in the garden at any one time.

Although they occasionally react to one of us moving in the conservatory there is rarely any real fuss about us. In fact they are generally oblivious to our presence to the point that one of them bumped his head on the glass of the conservatory door as my wife had her nose pressed up against the glass.

Last night we had a wonderful opportunity to observe their behaviour as three of them tucked into a badger box filled with pasta and noodles. They took it in turns at the box, the largest badger going first whilst the other two snuffled around munching peanuts. Once the first feeder had finished he decided it was time for a rest and proceeded to lay flat on the grass like a dog. Each of them did this, as if the pasta had weighed heavily on them and they needed time to process the food. At one point two of them engaged in mutual grooming, before the largest of the badgers rolled onto his back and proceeded to have a hard core scratch, legs splayed in all manner of directions. Whilst this was going on one of the others was obviously not satisfied with the sustenance of the pasta and went in search of worms. He or she (the identification guides don't really make it easy to tell the difference between the them) began a massive excavation, beyond anything they'd done to date and I hope it was worth it because once more the lawn looks like a battlefield.

Shattered expectations

I think that there was palpable disappointment from the badgers last night when they inspected their box and only found a couple of mini sausages and some leftover salad. Slim pickings compared to the feasts they'd been served the past few days. They used to be satisfied with peanuts but now their expectations are obviously higher. The three of them sidled into the garden earlier than usual (although it is getting dark just that bit earlier now), around 21:15, hoovered up the peanuts and were gone within ten minutes. This time they made their way out through the hole in the fence and across the field towards the golf course and heath. At least this time they did not linger to create more craters on the lawn.