Poor old badgers

I have been a fan of the badger for more than 70 years and currently looking for a suitable sett on my new patch. Over the past few years the government in its wisdom has been slaughtering badgers in its belief that it will help to reduce BTB in cattle. Close to 100,000 badgers have been killed during this time. A new scientific review found that in some cases they are to blame but they have been carrying an unfair share and puts farming practices in the spotlight instead. The rates of transmission from cow to cow are higher than previously thought. The failure to use basic infection control measures on all farms is severley hampering efforts to get the disease under control. Better and more modern methods of cattle slurry disposal must be implimented. Successive environment ministers have wasted millions of pounds on a wild goose chase while farmers have endured the unnecessary heartbreak of losing herds to the disease. Farmers, as well as badgers have been failed here and the question is why.

Info taken from The Guardian October 22nd 2018.

Getting desperate

 Getting desperate now. For almost two weeks now I haven't had a bird in the garden. I took a trip down to Pulborough Brooks this afternoon with no improvement in my luck. On the way I spotted these fallow deer in the woods not knowing that they were going to be the best shot of the day.

At the Brooks there was little to see. I sat for an hour in Westmead hide where hearing a buzzard and spotting a couple of wood pigeons, I watched the rabbits.

After much digging.......

After much digging over the past 12 months I have have finally decided the demise of the small birds where I live is due to air polution. I live in one of the worst places in the U.K. The village is plagued by the amount of traffic passing through and because of the layout it is slow and often stationary filling the air with burnt exhaust gases.

We no longer have house sparrows, very few garden birds, the visiting swifts failed to nest this year. Only the larger birds such as these cormorants, corvids and of course ferral pidgeons dominate the air space. The food in my feeders  is often thrown away without being touched. The local RSPB reserve are suffering too although they don't seem to recognise the situation. The feeders have been removed because it was noticed that some of the finches were sick and there was a fear of it spreading. Now the healthy birds are suffering because of lack of food.

At last

Spotted Flycatcher

Its about 2 years since I began to notice the demise of the small birds in the area in which I live. I have spent many months searching for a spot where I can find a subject to photograph with little success until today. I found a little used pulic footpath behind a pub. I hadn't walked more than 200 yards along this path when I was greeted by the chirping of small birds. A family of spotted flycatchers. Unfortuneatly this was the best shot I could get as they were the other side of the river and a couple of canoes went past and scared them away.
I am still at a loss as to what is happening, could be something the local farmers are using on the fields but more likely air polution, my area is well known for the high levels of CO2.

Back to blogging

 Having had a couple of setbacks over the past month I didn't get up to much. For medical reasons I was stopped from driving which to my way of life is a must. Having a full blown check-up 3 days before my 81st I got an excellent medical report which meant I could drive again so I celebrated with a trip down to the New Forest for a few days with my family. One would think that it would be the perfect place for a wildlife photographer, no such luck, I have more wildlife in my back garden than I found down there. The only pictures I took were in a hawk conservency.

Returning home after a very enjoyable few days I took a trip down the road to see if the peregrines were OK. There they were quite content surveying their patch with full tummies no doubt.

Friends

Its a couple of weeks now since the hogs massacre next door. It took several days for the remaining hedgehogs to pluck up courage to call in for their evening meal, but eventually one did, the strange thing is that it only comes if the fox is there..

The hedgehog must feel safe in the company of the fox.

The hog is a youngster and it looks as though it has lost the rest of its family, perhaps it has adoted the fox as its new family. The fox I call broken tail and it has been around for nearly 3 years. They are good friends and often eat from the same dish.

Devastation

 When we moved into our bungalow in the village almost 3 years ago it took a lot of hard work and several months making the garden into something respectable. During this time I set out my infra-red cameras to see if there was anything interesting going on after dark. Beside the foxes there were as many as 5 hedgehogs which I beleive was a Mum and her family so a little food was put out each night. Hogs visited every night right through the winter months even popped in for Christmas dinner.

A week ago our neighbours garden which was in a bit of a sorry state was attacked by a man with a strimmer with devastating results. The hogs have now stopped coming, I thought they must have been frightened off until yesterday when I found the remains of Mum with terrible wounds across her back. I now have just one hog which sneaks in after midnight. As you can see its a junior and as far as I can make out its the only one left out of the family.

My garden

   

I get lots of surprises in my garden. Foxes, hedgehogs and the occasional evidence of a badger visit but this is one that I never expected. This albino hog is the sixth individual to visit this year and it is a lifetime first for me.

It looked very comfortable with me so close and carried on eating so I think it will be a regular visitor. With the quality of the food that I put out it will be back.

Young fox in the garden

 Because of my age and falling energy levels I am concentrating on the wildlife that comes into my garden. I put out small amounts of popular foods to encourage locals to stop by for a snack.

This young fox caught me by surprise. I was setting up my camera when it came round the corner of the house. The flash made it jump and not knowing which way to run it got a bit tied up.

Meanwhile these two hedgehogs carried on playing ( male and female) and took no notice.

Coffee break

I haven't had much to shout about for some time but today after a visit to the dentist for Jacque we dropped in at Pulborough Brooks for a cup of coffee. Of course I just happened to have my camera with me. Sitting by the window that overlooks the feeders this is what I got while drinking my coffee.  First a greenfinch.

 Then a gtreater spotted woodpecker that played hide and seek. She didn't like the sound of the camera shutter and disappeared every time she heard it.

 Goldfinches were in abundance. This one was happy to pose for me.

 Nuthatch prefered the sunflower hearts rather than the peanuts.

This pair of house sparrows is something that is not seen in my garden just a couple of miles down the road, but I am working on it.

While all this was going on a young rabbit was keeping his beady eye on me.

Hogs round for supper

As usual I put the dish of mealworms out for the hogs supper and the first one turned up giving me a black look.  This one appeared through the hedge from my neighbours garden.

Soon after number two arrived coming across the road at the back of my house.

They know I am there with my camera and one is camera shy and will always turn his back on me.

After they had gone I checked my infra-red camera which was positioned to get a different view that I realized a third had joined the party.

Hedgehogs

 Every time the hedgehogs visit for their supper I make sure that they know I am there with my camera and slowly they get used to my presence. They are quite happy to pose for me when I am no more than a couple of feet away.

 This one is finding it a bit of a tight squeeze under the bar on the table.

 The second one was a bit late this evening and most of the meal worms had gone.

They come into my garden from different directions each one having its own entrance the through the hedge and they leave by those entrances, each going its own way. They feed happily together, up to four at a time.

The garden flourishes Part 2

 This is one creature that has done well in my garden. They visit every night for supper and especially over the Christmas period when they call for their dinner. These chaps don't seem to hibernate, they only miss a meal when it is unduly wet.

 Rarely come on their own as this one has.

Soon joined by others. I have a little outhouse from where these photos were taken. Looking forward to the next visit of the fox and who knows maybe a badger.

The garden flourishes at last Part 1

Its nearly three years since we moved into our new home in a Sussex village and the first thing we noticed was the lack of small birds. Trying every trick in the book to encourage them to our garden we had little success. It was a general thing for the area which local inhabitants hadn't noticed. Last year we managed to entice a pair of blackbirds which nested next door and successfully raised four chicks. This year they returned and raised another family.

 During this spring a blue tit was attracted to the feeders and spent much time in a sparrow box which had been available for a couple of years.

 To our surprise after it had spent many nights in it we realised that it had a mate and nested in it. The pair are happily feeding a family at the moment.

The brood patch can clearly be seen on this one. Over the past few days the garden has come alive and for the first time we have had starlings, wren, several robins, coal tit, great tit and song thrush. As well as our three hedgehogs and two foxes. It now looks as though my cameras will be working overtime without me leaving  the house.

Found her.

Perigrine update
Since I saw them mating I have been watching the pair closely and about a week ago the female went missing. I heard her calling  a couple of times but could not see her. This evening all was revealed when her head popped up showing her new nest site. In past years the nest has been hidden and it was not possible to observe the young but this time it looks very promising.

Blackbird family

 For the third year running a pair of blackbirds have raised a family in our garden. Each year the birds get more used to us and this year they appear when called, come when they see the car and when they see us draw the curtains in the morning there they are waiting for breakfast.

Here one of the youngsters tries the bath for the first time.

 This one is waiting on the gate post while I park the car. They used to hide under the car while waiting to be fed which I didn't like so I used to start the car, now they sit on the bonnet.

We have to be careful when in the garden because they get under your feet. I even had one feed out of my hand. We try to deter them from doing this as much as possible as it could go too far.

Another surprise

The egyptian geese that I spotted a few weeks ago reappeared yesterday with a family of six in tow. Rarely seen in Sussex it was a nice surprise but to see them with a family was something special. This was a life-time tick for me.

Perigrine meal time

 Where's my dinner woman, I've been out hunting all day and I'm starving.

 Give the photographer a nice smile dear and I will get your dinner for you.

 Turn round dear and smile, your dinner's here somewhere.

Oh! I've had enough, I'm off down the pub.

BADGER V THE STUPIDITY OF MAN

It was recently published an article on the failure of the badger cull. The following figures were announced:- Year 2014 -       615 badgers were killed in the cull.
                             2017 -   19274      "          "       "         "      
No figures are available for the number of badgers killed that had BTB.
During this period cows that died because of BTB rose from 27474 to over 42,000.
Why has nobody admitted this gross mistake. Badgers do get BTB but so do many other animals including deer, household pets including cats and dogs. Badgers are the cleanest wild animal that I know of. BTB is spread through body fluids, urine, sweat and blood. Badgers have latrines away from the sett and even bury their dead in remote spots (this I have witnessed). Cattle feed on the grass that their colleagues have fouled. Have you ever been in a cow shed or strolled down a country lane where a herd of cows have been driven.

Tonight on TV they are now blaming the demise of the hedgehog on the badger saying that they kill and eat them. This may happen but not in the numbers that would be noticable. More hedgehogs are killed on the road than eaten by Mr. Brock. Hedgehogs as their name implies live in hedgerows and thick undergrowth. Have you noticed farmers fields over the past 20 years they are getting bigger as the hedges disappear. This loss of hedging is also affecting wildlife in other ways such as the loss of small mammals which are the main food of kestrels, owls and foxes.
WE ARE MAKING A BIG HOLE IN THE FOOD CHAIN.
I have hedgehogs in my garden, regular visits from foxes and on a good night a badger.
I am going to make sure it stays that way.