Had the kids round for supper again

[CHJ]

Just have to accept the odd additional path in what passes for a lawn around here.

The only shot with all Five, just.

 

[chris_d]

What a wonderful sight!

Thank you for sharing that with us.

Cheers,
C

 

[devonwoody]

Good one CHJ. Worth a shot with that one with CountryFile, the competition closes sometime in August.

 

[johnjin]

Thank you Chas
That is just so wonderful and in daylight as well.

John

 

[CHJ]

Thank you Chas
That is just so wonderful and in daylight as well.

John

First shot was at DateTime : 2010:06:19 22:12:20 they had been around for about 15 mins.

Depends on the weather and who is still out and about in local gardens/fields. Can be an hour or so earlier.

The youngsters are old enough to have broken away from parental guidance but not old enough to get paranoid about caution.

Have to remember to close the conservatory doors on warm evenings, especially when they are very young else they have a tendency to check out what's on telly.

 

[frugal]

We have badgers in the woods above the house, every now and again we get to see them in the garden. We were sat in the swing seat watching the sun set earlier in the year when a juvenile badger wandered out of the shrubery 6' away from us and proceeded to meander his way across the garden.

I have also surprised one by accident, they can't half put of a bit of speed when they want to.

 

[Chems]

Apparently if startled they'll go for your ankles!

Badgers are very cute, your very lucky to have 5!

 

[CHJ]

Apparently if startled they'll go for your ankles!

Never had one be aggressive to us, timid ones just turn and run, even when we have had adults fighting over food scraps and biting at each other around our legs, the only thing to watch out for are the claws which are very long and often leave characteristic five pronged scratch marks on the concrete, their natural challenge to each other is a rapid snap of the teeth though which normally just results in the challenged one turning its less vulnerable backside towards the aggressor.

Badgers are very cute, your very lucky to have 5!

The five seen are just one litter of young, we often see Nine or Eleven when all the adults and juveniles are out latter in the evening.
I think there are currently three adult pairs with young in the local sets.

Gets quite interesting watching the power play between them and the Foxes, the Badgers try and sit on a hoard of food and their mates and the Foxes try and sneak round their backs to steal it.

When the young are first escorted out of the sets the adults come and collect the food and take it to the young who collect and stay hidden in the shrubs.

We have a 40 mtr. long wired passage (doubled fence) for them to enter the garden and a collecting area under the scrubs to keep them out of the veg plot else they dig up all the root veg. and strip the strawberries and soft fruit.

 

[frugal]

Apparently if startled they'll go for your ankles!

We did sit very still when it ambled past just in case

 

[frugal]

We have a 40 mtr. long wired passage (doubled fence) for them to enter the garden and a collecting area under the scrubs to keep them out of the veg plot else they dig up all the root veg. and strip the strawberries and soft fruit.

Ours dig holes to find leatherjackets in the lawn. Divots the size of your fist with a single careless swipe.

The only thing they went for in the veg patch last year was the sweetcorn. We came out one morning to find a neatly removed ear of corn with the leaves pulled back and all of the kernals eaten. We decided to pick the rest and freeze it just in case he told his mates that the crop was ready and they all came down for supper

 

[Steve Jones]

Nice pictures Chas, when I worked for the countryside service a good few years ago our local badgers were partial to M&M's and peanut butter sandwiches, as long as we were downwind of them they would come right up to your feet to take them.

Regards

Steve

 

[CHJ]

Some of the greatest moments over the years have been watching visitors who have never seen them up close trying to stem the tears of emotion as they snuffle round their feet picking up the peanuts off the yard.
One elderly (90's) visitor who had travelled some considerable distance to see them for the first time in her life left us in tears sometime in the early hours because she was torn between needing rest and having to leave them.

Another sitting outside waiting to take photographs failed to take a single picture in the best part of 45 mins. When we asked why she had not bothered she said a large Female had wandered up to her un-noticed and sat on her feet and she was frightened to startle it with the flash because of its claws and the fact she only had open sandals on.

 

[Nigel]

wonderful Chas
Thanks for sharing those great moments,

Cheers Nigel

 

[CHJ]

Ours dig holes to find leatherjackets in the lawn. Divots the size of your fist with a single careless swipe.

Yes, ours looks like open season on the Tee some mornings.

The only thing they went for in the veg patch last year was the sweetcorn. We came out one morning to find a neatly removed ear of corn with the leaves pulled back and all of the kernals eaten. ....

They treat a banana the same way, how on earth a badger knows you need to peel them I can't imagine.

 

[CHJ]

The competition arrives: 20:41 Hrs

Kids see competition off the premises;

MOM: 20:43 Hrs.

Did you click?

Dad comes for his share, Mom and the other two are in the tunnel.

Up close and personal: I'm stood about 2 mtrs away.

 

[Paul.J]

Great piccys Chas,and good to see them still visiting

 

[Jonzjob]

Cracking photos!

Chas, do you know Tony Dean, the badger man for Gloucestershire?

He spends most of his life looking after badgers and is a great bloke. My memory fails me I used to make tiny badgers to sell in the Bear of Rodborough for £3 each. I kept £1 and gave the rest to him for his badgers. Wonderful, very maligned animals!

http://www.encyclopedia.com/doc/1P2-14500279.html

If you ever need any info on your visitors then he will always help and i'm sure that he would love to see them. Where in the Cotswolds are you roughly?

A mate of mine used to have a family visit him every evening. One of them was named Robin because he was a 3 wheeler and had lost a leg somewhere. Probably in a trap!

 

[CHJ]

Know of Tony, not met him as far as I am aware.

I'm about 6miles as a crow flys from Rodborough John, the sets local to me are under MAFF surveillance and are subject to tuberculosis monitoring and inoculation against it to avoid culling.