Badger territories (1 Viewer)

Bill Payer · May 30, 2020

I've been leaving out peanuts in front and back gardens for the local Badgers for just over three years and recording their presence by trail cam for about two years.
As far as I can make out some arrive from behind the house and others come from across the road.
Very often those from the back move on to the front and vice versa when rations are exhausted.
If my observations are correct then territories would appear to overlap.

This year we've struck lucky and, for the first time, we've had visits from adults with cubs but, as far as I am aware, only in the back garden.
However, there appears to be two litters on the same patch.
One family is a fairly small adult plus two cubs and the other is a large and conspicuously lactating sow plus three although I've seen both parents in this group.

I know little of their lives but I am surprised at the apparent overlapping of territories.
It also causes a 'catering' problem as I have to replenish supplies after the first group has been so that there is something left for the second lot!

If any forum member has any information or thoughts on the above scenario I'd be interested to hear from you.

Thanks,

Bill

Farnboro John · May 30, 2020

Bill Payer said:
I've been leaving out peanuts in front and back gardens for the local Badgers for just over three years and recording their presence by trail cam for about two years.
As far as I can make out some arrive from behind the house and others come from across the road.
Very often those from the back move on to the front and vice versa when rations are exhausted.
If my observations are correct then territories would appear to overlap.

This year we've struck lucky and, for the first time, we've had visits from adults with cubs but, as far as I am aware, only in the back garden.
However, there appears to be two litters on the same patch.
One family is a fairly small adult plus two cubs and the other is a large and conspicuously lactating sow plus three although I've seen both parents in this group.

I know little of their lives but I am surprised at the apparent overlapping of territories.
It also causes a 'catering' problem as I have to replenish supplies after the first group has been so that there is something left for the second lot!

If any forum member has any information or thoughts on the above scenario I'd be interested to hear from you.

Thanks,

Bill

Not necessarily Badgers but there are mammals which operate on two levels: they have a breeding territory "this is where we live, stay out" and a hunting range which may overlap with others. This can occur especially if there is a particular spot that is an exceptional resource that is not fully exploitable by a single territory owner. In that area an armed neutrality may exist or animals may deconflict in time rather than space.

John

Bill Payer · May 30, 2020

Thanks for that info, John. I do have a lot to learn!

Just to add some colour (in glorious black and white) this is the larger of the two Badger families mentioned above.
The cubs are now so well grown that in some views it is difficult to distinguish them from their parents.

Britseye · May 30, 2020

I am so jealous of your sightings, Bill. I've lived around Badgers for the past three summers and never managed to entice them out except on the very odd occasion they came for some jam and bread! Interesting what John says: reminds me a bit of what I've learnt about Song Thrush and Blackbird territories, in that they have some sort of loose 'truce' in October/November when autumn fruits are at there most abundant. The Blackbirds I learned about second hand from David Snow's classic A Study of Blackbirds; the Song Thrush I learned about from personal observation on St Agnes,Isles of Scilly where 70-100 pairs exist in a very small location. In the case of the latter, the birds tend to gather around isolated fruiting Coprosma bushes and will have their arguments from time to time, but on the whole do not go through the same stages of snake-posture display and fighting that we see around the gardens at other time of the year.

Bill Payer · May 30, 2020

Britseye said:
I am so jealous of your sightings, Bill. I've lived around Badgers for the past three summers and never managed to entice them out except on the very odd occasion they came for some jam and bread!

I've been very, very fortunate to see these animals so close to home.
It's only a few years ago that I thought I was lucky to catch a fleeting glimpse of one out and about late on a summer's evening and now they visit every night.

It isn't that long ago that most of the lawns along our road were being churned up overnight by Badgers in search of grubs, mostly during October.
My front and back lawns, never things of beauty, still have the lumps and bumps where I reinstated the turf on an almost daily basis.
I don't know if these two things are connected, but lawns have tended to remain unscathed ever since I started feeding old Bill Brock with copious quantities of peanuts!

Britseye · May 30, 2020

Bill Payer said:
I don't know if these two things are connected, but lawns have tended to remain unscathed ever since I started feeding old Bill Brock with copious quantities of peanuts!

Maybe we aren't the most intelligent creature on the planet after all! Heh-heh!

Badger territories (1 Viewer)

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