Tag: badgers

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We were going to name the Filly today with one…

We were going to name the Filly today, with one of the names that some of you liked. We cannot remember without going back on the forum, what the majority wanted. We liked both of the names, they were Whisper or Willow. Let us know what you think. To Lady’s annoyance she is becoming a little independent, very often wandering off with Bliss and Misty. When Lady calls for her, she now sometime doesn’t hear or pretends not to. Misty and Bliss get the blame, with Lady pacing over to them, with her ears back in a threatening posture.

As I am writing I can hear the Magpies intimidating the other birds. How they get away with darting in and out to take the Badgers feed, I cant imagine. A couple of times I thought that one of the Badgers may have hurt one of them. It is surprising how fast the reactions of Badgers are, and also how fast they cover the ground when they are on the move. The shape and size of them gives the impression that they are slow and awkward. Far from it, they can outrun me, and they can keep going at a constant pace for miles.

Over the past week or more there have been two or three Herons on the lake every day, after the fish. I have made you aware of my feeling for the Herons. I don’t want them here. That is why you may see me scanning the lake with the camera, from time to time over the day. As well as seeing what there is on the lake, it is also to look for Herons. From the house to the lake it is about a 150m. Believe me, when I see one on the lake I don’t hang about to get there to frighten them off. I don’t suppose that I see many of them.

Breeze is really getting the hump being behind the electric fencer on her own. We have had Breeze longer than any of the Horses, so she is a bit special to us, and we do feel guilty having to do it to her. We know that there is no alternative, but it doesn’t help. When we give the Horses a little feed in the morning and of a night we put Arnie in with her. I shouldn’t think that it helps a lot, probably it make it worse, as he is only in with her for an hour at most. Tomorrow we will get Breeze in with Arnie for a few hours. More than likely she will go out for a ride.

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Although it has been very overcast it has been quite…

Although it has been very overcast, it has been quite warm, so warm that we have been able to sit out side to have have our tea and coffee through the day. On one occasion when we got up to go back into the house, a Jenny Wren with at least four Chick flew out of the nest that is by the farm house door. You may remember I put a camera looking into the nest, hoping that we would get the nesting on camera. I cant bOncee 100% sure that the Wrens did not nest there, but I did not notice that they did, and I am sure that I would have. Only last week I told you that I thought that something had pull the inside of the nest apart. When we saw the Wrens and their chick a day or so ago in the garden, we thought that they had come from the barn that we are converting. It could well be that the Wrens that come out of the nest next to the door are the same one that nested in the barn. I know that Swallows Chicks return to their nest of a night for a week or more, after they have fledged, I have never noticed that Wrens do. I am sure I would have noticed if they did, as they are so close to us when we leave and return indoors, and would they go into an old nest. Do any of you know?

I know that I am tempting fate, but I am amazed that the Swallow Chick is still about. I had thought that I would be moving the camera onto another nest this morning. I have managed to find another three Swallows nest that we can put on camera. One is on the first floor of the barn, above the nest we are now showing. Another two nests are in the barn we are converting, in another room from the one that had eggs in, that now looks abandoned. For some reason the cable that we were using was not connecting, and I had to put in a new cable today. I would have put it on to show you today. There are some very young chicks in the nest. Unfortunately I have mislaid the plugs to put onto the wire. As I normally do, I put them in a safe place that I could put my hands on, if I needed them. To safe that I cant find them. I will buy more tomorrow.

I should think that a lot of you have seen the crafty Fox, when the Badgers are feeding. I think that the Fox either builds its self up with frustration or bravery when it sees the other Foxes and Badgers feeding, for it without warning, charges into where the Badgers are feeding, the Badgers race back to the sett, of course fearing the worse. Normally they realise within seconds what has happened, and one of the Badgers will race out of the sett to chase the Fox off. I wouldn’t want to be the Fox if they work out what it is doing.

As Karen said on the forum today, the Rat that she saw on the feeder would have taken a saddle. The Rats have started to take the poison around the lake. From tomorrow it should start taking affect, and we will need to make sure that there a none lying around for Buzzard, Owls and other Birds of Prey to feed on. If a Fox or Badger ate one of them, that had been poisoned, it would be very unlikely that they would be affected by the poison. But there would be a good chance that it would kill any of the Birds of Prey.

I am trying something different for the Rats that you see on cam one. You may have noticed that the camera shows two Bird feeder locations and the lower Badger feeding area. What I have done is to put a large container under the feeders that are in the tree. I have made it with a lip around the edge of the container. I put food on the edge of the container, hoping for the Rats will go into it. If they do they will not be able to get out. What I will do with them then I haven’t thought about yet. Why I am trying this way is so that there is little chance of other wildlife eating poisoned Rats. Often if we have mistakenly left the lid off of a feed bin in the barn, we have found Rats in them in the morning, if there is a pile of bags by the side of the bin, they will get into the bin by climbing on the bags, once in they cant get out. When Jade was younger she would jump into the bin and kill them. She is to slow now to do it.

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I have turned the lights off in the barn that…

I have turned the lights off in the barn that the Swallows chicks are in. Hopefully it will stop them expecting food every time they hear a noise and calm them down. The light now showing the nest is an IR lamp. The light is timed and will go out in about forty minutes. I will try to remember to turn it back on. Later I will put another camera on.

Like most of the country, it has been a miserable, wet, cold and windy day at Denbury, not the sort of day that I want to be out and about on the farm, in fact I have been out very little, other than to feed the Horses and Badgers tonight.

The weather is of course the reason you are not seeing the Swallows chicks being fed. The Swallow and the Birds in that group, prominently catch their food, insects, flying ants, aphids etc, on the wing, across grazing land and ponds and the like. Unfortunately when it is raining constantly, as it has been today, there is very little food about for them to catch. I would hope that the food that they have had over the past days, will be sufficient to keep them going until tomorrow, when we are promised a break in the weather.

Swallows are also known to me as Barn Swallows, because on farms they will mainly nest in old barns and out buildings, very close to cattle and other livestock. They will return to the same nesting sites, and even to the same nests year after year. With farming rapidly changing, lots of buildings that they traditionally use to nest, are disappearing. At Denbury we have converted buildings, so we are not innocent, but we did not realise the impact that it might have on the Swallows, Although I don’t believe it would have made us change direction, if we had of known. Fortunately we have a couple of old stone barns that we have not converted, they now nest in these buildings, we have no plans to convert them. With less livestock farming, mainly dairy, the grazing fields have less flying insects. Although you would not think it on the hot sticky days of the Summer. We are lucky that we have the lake that the Swallows use for a lot for their food, to feed their chicks and themselves.

The Foxes have stopped coming to the Badger feeding area at the feeding time, as the hide is being used some nights by our holiday quests. I saw a couple later on in the night, but by the time they came all the food had gone. The Foxes normally hang around for up to half an hour before I put the feed down. Our quests go to the hide about ten minute before I feed, so the Foxes see them go into the hide, their sense of smell is also very good, so they are more aware of humans being around than the Badgers, who only have to walk a few steps from the sett to eat what food that I put out. Maybe tomorrow night after I feed the Badgers, I will go into the hide with the quests. Foxes cant count, when I leave they may think that there is no one in the hide, as long as they do not smell the scent.

When the hide is being used, the slightest noise will spook the Badgers, and it is that which causes them to race back to the sett. They soon seem to get over it, and return to feed, that could well be that I go up to the area to feed them every night.

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MOST OF THE WEB CAMS ARE NOW WORKING THOSE THAT…

MOST OF THE WEB CAMS ARE NOW WORKING. THOSE THAT ARE NOT WILL BE GOING TOMORROW.

A elderly Gentleman came today, to holiday on the farm for a week. He has been watching the web cams since CJ Bird foods linked to Denbury Farm, getting on for two years ago. He like most of our visitors, came for the wild life. His hobby is wildlife photography and he is going to photograph the wild life at Denbury.

Whilst showing him the Badgers hide this evening, he mentioned seeing a Badger mating session last year, on camera one. I did forget that I had recorded the mating on a CCTV recording machine. It is stored on a hard drive. If I can find some one to save it to a DVD I will show it on the web site. At the time I recorded it I made numerous enquiries of any other recordings of Badgers Mating, I found none. The BBC did not know of any footage either. I did a lot of recording last year, If I can get it all downloaded and it looks interesting, I will get a DVD made.

Going back to last night diary about Wasp stings. The reason I came to farm and live in Somerset, was that my family holidays were taken on a farm in the area. I wont fly and I am not one to lay on a beach. A farm holiday was a nice break from London, and the children enjoyed the countryside. On one of my holidays I went for a drink in the local pub with the farmer, with whom we stayed. I had a pint of beer, on bending my arm picking it up to drink, a Wasp got caught in the joint of my elbow, that started to squash the Wasp. The Wasp went down fighting, the sting made me move so fast, that the full pint went in one direction, soakeding at least six people, two of which spilt their drinks. That Wasp cost me a lot of pain and a few drinks in the bargain.

I cant believe it, isn’t it always the way. The web cams are down, and as I am writing the Diary at 10.pm two Badger Cubs came out of the sett and started to play, believe me it is pure fun, and now their mother has come out to join in the fun. I am pleased for those who have never seen the cubs playing. The cubs are quite big, I really don’t know if one is not the one that has been coming out for the past few weeks. Hopefully you will see them tomorrow.

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I finally spoke to Veterinary about Woody this morning The…

I finally spoke to Veterinary about Woody this morning. The blood samples taken some weeks ago were looked at again, they showed very little to what is the cause of Woody’s problems. There were small signs of worm infestation, but it would not be uncommon to find that. Our Horses are regularly wormed. The most likely cause of her illness and loss of weight is that she has a cancer of some sort. Unfortunately to pinpoint it is virtually impossible and inoperable if you do find it. Further blood tests could be taken, but other than showing more accurate results on worm infestation they would be of little use. I will re worm her, if that is the problem she would soon gain weight. I wont take any drastic action unless I believe she is suffering. We will see how she goes through the summer before making any final decision.

Elsie on today’s forum brought up the subject of the Badger cull and the findings of a cull in the Republic of Ireland, that ended in 2002. I have not read the report, only what was on News 24. It seems that there may have been an increase in the amount of cattle needing to be slaughtered, in areas that Badgers has been virtually exterminated.

There is so much conflicting evidence on the cause of Bovine TB, that you really don’t know what to believe. Recent evidence suggests that cattle infect Badgers with the disease. Until recently cattle had free movement around the country. Unknown to either the seller or the purchaser, infected Cattle were transported to Bovine TB free area, subsequently incidents of TB were then found in those areas. Now Cattle have to be tested before they are allowed to be moved, since the testing Bovine TB has in most areas dramatically decreased. That must prove something.

My biggest concern is how the NFU is conducting their call for a cull. Farmers do have problems with Badgers. They cause damage to fields and the tunnels of the Badger setts do at times go a good way into a field, this has caused tractors to turn over when they have gone through into the tunnel, when they have driven over them. I believe a couple of farmers have been killed this way. Farmers are not the type of people who on mass run to a union rep. Please Mr Union man get these Badgers culled. They are not that type. It is more like the Union trying to prove that they can make things happen and their representatives positioning themselves by who can get the most done, for future promotions. They have gone so far down the route that they have, that they will never admit that they may have got it wrong.

I am sure those responsible for any decision on a UK cull, will take all the evidence into consideration. Woe betide them if they get it wrong.

I also believe that the Badger Trust has very little foresight. On many occasions I have asked them to give us a link. Surly if more people saw our Badger web cams, the more support they would get. We did get a link when they wanted us to help promote the annual Badger day, that they organise.

Also Elsie, the Badger is mightier than the fox.

Karen and Pat, A massive box, and I mean massive has been in our kitchen for two weeks, with the telescope inside. It has been away for a small repair. It needs three people to get it into the observatory. There maybe three people here tomorrow. It I do get it in, it will still take a little while longer to fit it up for broadcasting.

Sorry who ever asked about the owl cam. Be patient, there may not be an owl cam, although there was one, on one of their sight last year. But there will be other exciting possibilities. One of their Wardens, who inspects areas near the farm is coming when next in the area to see me, It wont be long. You will be surprised.

The Geese flew back onto the lake this morning. They stayed for a while. I don’t know if they ever have a second clutch of eggs. What ever we do have a couple of things in mind to try to stop the Gosling from being taken.

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When ever I see stock in my fields laying flat…

When ever I see stock in my fields laying flat out for a long while, I look at their ears, You can guarantee that if their is an ear sticking up it is alive, if not go and see why not. Animals are always listening for danger. Up to to today it has never been wrong. Late this afternoon rushing around getting the stables and horse feed ready I glanced Woody, she was flat out, ears down and she even had a hind leg sticking up, every sign that we had a dead horse. I didn’t need to look twice, we rushed to the field. When we where by her side she still looked dead, only when I touched her did she stir. We managed to get her up and back to her stable, once there she collapsed. Woody over the last week or so has been her old self, bossy, moody and full of life. This morning I let lady go out first, Woody kicked the door in protest and dragged me out to the field. She laid down a few times, I had the camera on her, there was not any thing wrong with her.

Woody is a little better now, she has eaten a little of her feed. I am now very concerned about the Foal she is carrying. Woody is showing signs of an udder, not as large as I would expect, she is due to foal on the 2nd of May. The Veterinary is coming to see Lady tomorrow. She was due to foal on the 9th of April. She is late but I am not to concerned, she looks very well, having a good sized udder, but she does waddle and is slow when walking back to her stable of a night time. Just got to be patient and unfortunately tired.

I put up the frame of the new Badgers hide today. As I am writing today’s Diary I am watching the Badgers on screen, every now and then one of the Badgers must see the frame and they run off in panic, but it is better than I thought it may have been. Hopefully I will get it finished tomorrow.

We managed to capture four more Ewes with their lambs today. It has taken a month to catch fourteen of the twenty four we have. I am a little bit please I haven’t got a hundred.

I had hoped to have time to look for more Bird Nests today. I did not get the time. I know where to pairs of Swallows will be nesting soon, I will keep watch and as soon as they look as if they are ready to lay their eggs I will get a camera on them. I have seen the Pied Wagtails near where I thought that they were going to nest, so I might be able to find their nest.

I have been thinking about the Squirrel obstacle course. I could start it off now, but there is so much going on at the moment I would not be able to set a camera on it for as long as it should get. I have decided to leave it until the Wildlife is quieter.

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When ever I see stock in my fields laying flat…

When ever I see stock in my fields laying flat out for a long while, I look at their ears, You can guarantee that if their is an ear sticking up it is alive, if not go and see why not. Animals are always listening for danger. Up to to today it has never been wrong. Late this afternoon rushing around getting the stables and horse feed ready I glanced Woody, she was flat out, ears down and she even had a hind leg sticking up, every sign that we had a dead horse. I didn’t need to look twice, we rushed to the field. When we where by her side she still looked dead, only when I touched her did she stir. We managed to get her up and back to her stable, once there she collapsed. Woody over the last week or so has been her old self, bossy, moody and full of life. This morning I let lady go out first, Woody kicked the door in protest and dragged me out to the field. She laid down a few times, I had the camera on her, there was not any thing wrong with her.

Woody is a little better now, she has eaten a little of her feed. I am now very concerned about the Foal she is carrying. Woody is showing signs of an udder, not as large as I would expect, she is due to foal on the 2nd of May. The Veterinary is coming to see Lady tomorrow. She was due to foal on the 9th of April. She is late but I am not to concerned, she looks very well, having a good sized udder, but she does waddle and is slow when walking back to her stable of a night time. Just got to be patient and unfortunately tired.

I put up the frame of the new Badgers hide today. As I am writing today’s Diary I am watching the Badgers on screen, every now and then one of the Badgers must see the frame and they run off in panic, but it is better than I thought it may have been. Hopefully I will get it finished tomorrow.

We managed to capture four more Ewes with their lambs today. It has taken a month to catch fourteen of the twenty four we have. I am a little bit please I haven’t got a hundred.

I had hoped to have time to look for more Bird Nests today. I did not get the time. I know where to pairs of Swallows will be nesting soon, I will keep watch and as soon as they look as if they are ready to lay their eggs I will get a camera on them. I have seen the Pied Wagtails near where I thought that they were going to nest, so I might be able to find their nest.

I have been thinking about the Squirrel obstacle course. I could start it off now, but there is so much going on at the moment I would not be able to set a camera on it for as long as it should get. I have decided to leave it until the Wildlife is quieter.

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We don t get a lot of time for holidays…

We don’t get a lot of time for holidays, in fact we have not had one for so many years, I cant truly remember the last one. We did manage to be away from the farm for twenty four hours last summer, when we went to the East End of London. If it had not been a very special friends retirement bash, we would not have had that time off. The lady is a very special person who has forgotten more about horses than I know. When ever I needed advice or help, she was the one I went to. She got an MBE for her work for RDA. She is responsible for the Docklands Equestrian Centre, that she worked tirelessly to achieve. It is a magnificent centre, probably the best in the country.

Today we had another two hours away from the farm. We went to the seaside, that is only a twenty minute drive away, and we had fish and chips on the beach. In the summer we try to do it once a week. We call it our holiday and believe me it is a break. With Lady due to foal we cant stay away from the farm for long. Two hours for really to long.

I have been making the new Badger Hide, the last one blew away in the gales last year. We made a temporary one for our holiday guest over Easter. If we had another gale that would have flown away to. This one is a bit more substantial and will be anchored into the ground. I am a little concerned if the Badgers will take to it, with the Cubs due out soon. We have guest due in a weeks time. The Badgers need to be use to the new hide by then. I will get the frame up tomorrow and see what they think of it.

Coming back from feeding the badgers for the past two evenings, I have seen one of the Geese flying back to the lake, I could hear him calling as he flew along the valley towards the lake. I take it, it was the Gander. I hope that he is not playing away, as the Goose has been incubating her eggs on the island. I have not heard the other pair of Geese for a couple of days, I should think they are looking for another nesting site. That is why the Gander feels safe to be away. I would guess that the eggs will hatch in about twenty six days. I will have to think of a way to stop the Gosling from being taken by their predators, but I don’t hold out much hope for them.

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At the moment the Badgers tend to be feeding on…

At the moment the Badgers tend to be feeding on camera one first, it could be because it is staying lighter of an evening. Although camera one is very near the farmhouse, it is positioned in a darker and more secluded spot than camera two, that is very open position. As it gets lighter of an evening I gradually feed later. The clocks go forward this weekend, so I will start to feed the Badgers an hour later, at about 8 to 8.15pm. In the summer you can see the Badgers in colour as they feed before it gets dark.

The Deer were not about last night, they use the same spot at nearly the same time for three or four days, then go off somewhere else. I should think it would be close by as we often see or hear them in the day. We are leaving the valley camera on of a night to try to see them. Last night there were a couple of Badgers and a Fox running through, it makes a change to see them in the valley, a little more interesting than it is at feeding times.

The lake has been very noisy today, two pairs of Geese flew in and have being arguing all day trying to chase each other off. Why they both cant put up with each other, I don’t know, every year only one pair settle. Last year two pairs flew in and tried chasing each other off, in the end three of the Geese flew of together, leaving one on its own. A pair did settle a few weeks later.

We need to get on with a couple of jobs on the lake. We are going to put a couple of landing branches in the the lake to encourage the Kingfisher to catch the fish from them, so that we can see them on the cameras. We have Kingfishers on the farm, but we do not see them as much as we would like.

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The twin lambs did not look too good this morning…

The twin lambs did not look too good this morning, both were calling out and obviously had not been feeding as they should, The Ewe was definitely unhappy, scouring, pawing the ground and not eating, a good sign that she was likely to have a tummy upset, we gave both the Ewe and the lambs a glucose solution to give them energy. The Ewe is on antibiotics and the lambs will be bottled fed to supplement what the Ewe is giving them. Just before sunset I the Ewe having a little nibble at the grass, with luck she is over the worse. The lambs will have to have a couple of feeds tonight.

On checking the other Ewes none were seen to be getting ready to lamb, I think that the lambing will go on for a month or so, it may well make me to decide next year to separate the Ewes and Rams until I want them to mate. It brings all the lambing work in a shorter period.

I saw nine badgers feeding tonight, none were limping or holding their weight off of their legs. It could say one of two things, it may be that the injury has got better or it may even be that the injured Badger may not have come out tonight and that there are still ten Badgers in the sett.

Woody has got over her illness and is feeling good. Lady’s udder is now starting to get bigger, a good sign foaling is not far away, it is now advisable to check her udder every day, for a good sign that foaling is imminent is that the tip of the teat has a little wax over it, this is natures way of stopping any seepage from the udder for the first milk is colostrum that is vital that the new born foal has within the first six hours. Although you don’t see it every time.