Badger shock (1 Viewer)

I know we get Badgers in our garden on a regular basis but I got a bit of a surprise last night. Normally they appear well after we've gone to bed in the early hours, as I can sometimes hear them and often get up and watch them with help from the moonlight.

I went round the side of the house to get to the back garden at around 22.15 last night to get something off the line. I had a very bright torch as we're nowhere near any street lamps, as I got round the back I was confronted by a Badger eating the chopped Apples I had put out earlier. It had it's back to me and was no more than 20ft away. I stood there for a while with the torch shining right on him and he didn't mind one bit. I even had time to run back into the house and get my partner to have a look which she thought was amazing. But when it turned round and saw us both there it ran off pretty quickly.

Is this normal behaviour for a Badger? I thought Badgers were like Foxes-very wary of humans. I have only ever been close to one on a country lane in the car, but to see one so close up and for it not to be too scared of me either was quite something.

Calling all you Badger experts out there.

Billy Boy

Billy
I worked with Badgers for a few months as part of a research project. Once they get eating you can actually get very close as long as you are down wind. Try putting a red filter over the torch and waitng out for them.

After a rain storm we'd see them through night sights eating earthworms. I had one so engrossed that he bumped into my wellies! The look of suprise was comical and he thundered off through the undergrowth at great speed.

Badgers love peanuts mixed wih golden syrup. Trythat to encourage them into your garden if you want close views.

On the BBC Nature message board someone has a badger that is using the cat-flap to enter the kitchen and is now venturing further into the house....
I do envie you all, never seen a badger in my life

I've seen 3 - all dead on the side of the road since we moved here. Very despressing.
My partner heard a report of a child walking home from school being attacked by a badger (on the Beeb) but I can't believe that was normal behaviour.
We've seen a lot of tracks (flattened grass etc) through the orchard made by something quite large and low to the ground. Also some really foul smelling poo! Could this be a badger?

Jen

Fuchsia said:

My partner heard a report of a child walking home from school being attacked by a badger (on the Beeb) but I can't believe that was normal behaviour.

Jen

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Hi Jen,
The report is correct. The young lad (about 12 I think) was chased home from school by a badger, which then chased anyone who ventured into the area of the house. It stayed outside the house and tried to enter via the cat-flap, which the lad and some school friends who were also hiding from it managed to block with their school bags.

Our local paper carried a photo of the badger looking through the french doors into the house.

The sorry end to it all is a local badger expert was called and he managed to capture it and take it to a vet. The vet checked it over, could find nothing physically wrong and assumed that it had a problem, possibly a parasite or some physical defect of the brain.

It was put down.

Not normal behaviour (for a badger, that is . . .)

Mike

Fuchsia said:

I've seen 3 - all dead on the side of the road since we moved here. Very despressing.
My partner heard a report of a child walking home from school being attacked by a badger (on the Beeb) but I can't believe that was normal behaviour.
We've seen a lot of tracks (flattened grass etc) through the orchard made by something quite large and low to the ground. Also some really foul smelling poo! Could this be a badger?

Jen

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We're fortunate to have a few badgers around here. I used to regularly go watching them and have had a few close encounters myself. Forutunately they usually run the other way as they are quite large creatures when seen close up. As regards the 'pooh', Badgers are quite hygenic near the sett in that they tend to use 'latrines', a particular area of ground where they scoop out a hollow a couple of inches deep in which to do their duty! Near established setts this can be quite a minefield for the unwary!

Since they can walk quite some distance from the sett, I dare say they must need to use the facilities when away from home, but as to how they cope I have no idea?

Scary story Mike.
I've just read El Annie's thread about 'do' and have seen a pic of a badger latrine now - the offending article here is always in the middle of the 'track' so I think this counts it out (unless it did get caught short!). It could always be a visiting dog I suppose.
Maybe when the weather isn't soooo cold I'll stick some peanuts and syrup out and stand guard!

Best wishes
Jen

Fuchsia said:

I've seen 3 - all dead on the side of the road since we moved here. Very despressing.

Jen

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Hi Jen,

It's not something I shoud boast about, but I've managed 4 dead badgers.

3 within 10 miles of my home and one in Oxfordshire (ish).

You're right, it is depressing, and I hope I see one alive one day.

The only consolation I allow myself, is that dead badgers means there are live badgers around somewhere.

Yep, you're absolutely right - the glass is half full and all that

Jen

3 dead ones on the road this week.

I have had the delight of seeing as many badgers alive as I have road kills, but the very first sight I had was surreal, my husband and I had seen a Barn owl fly into a copse close by and we went to try and see where it's feeding post was, so we went into the copse and heard terriffic noise,(first thought was Deer) until two young badgers poked their heads out a hole in the bushes, right under our hands as we were leaning against a tree, they took no notice of us and I was gooing like an idiot, but still they stayed. This lasted for a good half hour, and watching them root around for food was something I never thought I'd see. Since this episode I have seen so many I have become rather blase` and should be more sensible, but they waddle down our roads and lanes with such frequency I can't really help it.

hi all,
great reading all the comments. fuchsia, if the poo is foul smelling then it is more likely to be either fox or mink, fox will be wispy and curled at the end. badger latrines depending on wots about have an almost pleasant musky smell (honestly lol) if eating lots of worms but this time of year will quite often have alot of wheat in but as previosly said they dig a shallow pit which is also used as a terrortory marking.
If you see dead badgers on the road depending on area in country it is worth finding out your local badger groups telphone number and reporting it. the group will then probably pick up the animal and check sex and condition to help combat any suspicious circumstances.

I go out running in my local woods one evening a week and about 2 years ago I quite literally ran in to a feeding party of badgers. It was about an hour before dusk and there were 4 badgers rooting around under the trees on both sides of the track. Although I was running, they must have been making so much noise themselves that they didn't hear me, they paid no attention to me at all. I must have stood there for a quarter of an hour watching them until one seemed to get my scent, and then they all scooted off. I have come across badgers in the woods before and if they don't catch your scent they don't seem to know your there, they seem to have very poor eye-sight and their hearing isn't up to much either.
Jackie

I've had the amazing experience of having a badger in the house, several years ago where I last lived. Had the good fortune of having a large garden there with parkland, woodland and golfcourses at the back. There were two badger setts in that area and one about 10 mins. walk away from us. We knew the badgers were visiting over the years but they became prolific one year when it was very hot and dry for several weeks on and off and worming for one in that would have been difficult, apart from that they had youngsters just being taken out on strolls and needing food.
Part of the parkland below us had been turfed just before the heat and was therefore being watered every evening in the hope that the turf could be saved, heaven sent for the badgers! Each night we watched them trundle past our place ( and HEARD them, they are not exactly quiet, especially when there's 5 of them, mum, dad and 3 babes )
and the next morning the evidence would be a dug-up turf. Not funny for the park-gardeners but there you go, what can you do ( but watch and enjoy on our part ).
I AM coming to the point.
With the weather being so hot I would usually leave windows and doors open until the small wee hours. One night I had left a bag with bread in the hall after shopping and totally forgot about it. The lights were all off. At some point I went to the downstairs bathroom coming off the hall and whilst sitting on the throne started to be aware of funny noises outside the door. I mean, the things that raced through my mind in nanoseconds - well I won't go there, but after plucking up some courage I opened the door, by the millimeter, rest assured, armed with no more than the backscrubber and was faced with a black and white face looking at me in as much surprise as I was at him - Mr. or Mrs. Badger with nose in bread bag amid bits of bread everywhere. Good bread too, all grain and seeds, only the best for that lot!
After what seemed like several mins. but was probably only one he picked up the bread, turned his great big bum on me and waddled out the door, bag trailing. By that stage I was in ( silent ) giggles - relief as well as the scene, sooooo funny.
He visited on and off over the next few weeks after that, exploring the entire hall and even venturing a couple of steps up the staircase and sometimes he was lucky because he would find some more of that delicious bread left just at the entrance porch 'accidentally'. Both my children and I would be watching him from behind the bannisters on the landing in the gloom snuffling his way around for a minute or two and then leaving.
One amazing summer.
Bluetit