A first for me

snake · #1 (**permalink**) 06-06-2009, 11:52 AM

I am very lucky on my patch in as much as I have a large number of different species of wildlife to watch. Not just the residents but different migrants as the seasons change.
One thing I do not have and have never seen is the Badger.
This week I was asked by a keeper friend if I would like to spend an hour or so watching a Badger sett. I jumped at the chance and on Wed evening drove the thirty miles to the estate where he works.
I got there about 7.30pm and after a quick cup of tea we drove through the estate to the Badgers sett.
It was in an orchard with a large bank at on side, maybe ten metres high and covered with nettles and scrub. It was very sandy soil and there were hole dug everywhere, some at the base of the bank and others anywhere from the top to the bottom. It looked like an enormous Rabbit earth.
We got there about 8.15pm and parked the truck downwind and close to the
the bottom of the bank.
I had the camera ready hoping to get a few pics, we sat there quietly and waited.
The day was over cast and grey and as the light was failing I kept checking the shutter speed on the camera, it was getting dreadfully slow.
At 9.15 I was thinking " if nothing happens soon I will struggle to get any pics"
At that out popped a Badger from a hole not 3 metres from the truck, ran along the bottom of the bank and down another hole.
That was the start of it, We stayed there until it was almost to dark to see and must have had at least a dozen Badgers wandering about into the orchard or nipping from hole to hole including some half grown ones.
Some even came within a few metres of the truck.
I have hads countless situations over the years where I have been in close proximity to wild animals but none have ever put me on a high like watching these animals.
I did manage a few pics but with the failing light, slow shutter speed and trembling hands they are not as good as I hoped.
I drove home buzzing and can't wait for the next invitation.