Sue, I try to feed the Badgers earlier so that I can see what I am doing. Although the Badgers Sett is very close to the Farm House, on both places that I put the food down I have to climb up a steep embankment to get to the feeding places. Getting to the main feeding place is quite steep and slippery, but the lower feeding place is a nightmare to get up to. To get to it I have to climb a very steep embankment a good thirty feet up. I have a rope to try to stop from slipping down, I also need it for pulling myself up the embankment, but even with the rope I have very often slipped from top to bottom on my backside. When it is wet or icy I don’t like climbing up, as for sure I am going to come down a lot quicker than I went up. This year I have got my Lads to cut out steps in the embankment to make it easier for me to climb up, but it still slippery when wet. That is why I feed the Badger in my working cloths, coming down the wrong way leaves me very muddy.
It has been very windy at Denbury today, it is still blowing a bit at the moment. The leaves are being blown off of the trees. The Badgers don’t like the wind. Normally when I feed them a few are waiting near the Sett entrance, and just out of site of the cameras a bit down the embankment where you can see them scratching themselves. When it is windy they only seem to come out after I have put the food out. I was back in the Farm House before any of them came out tonight.
The wind made Bliss and Misty hard to work with today. Both were on the toes all of the time that we were working with them. Couldn’t do to much with Misty, she is still quite lame and very uncomfortable on her foot. It is only just over a week before they are going to France, so Misty really does need to be working. All that we can do with her is to walk her on the Lunge line in the sand school. I have just phoned the Farrier to get him to take a look at her. I think that she may have bruised her sole of her foot on a stone. If the bruise is on the inside of the sole, you cant see any signs of it. It is very unusual for a good Farrier not to find out what the problem is if it is in the foot, which it looks like the way Misty is walking on it. Farriers are more likely to sort foot problems in Horses than Veterinaries. The apprenticeship of a Farrier, is or use to be seven years.
Elaine, It is mainly Bats that are flying in front of the camera. Now and then an Owl will fly across, and of course there are Moths. But I must admit at times I see object that I would not swear where Bats. I know a person who is well up on Butterflies and Moths, I will ask her about what may be Moths.