As this Mouse had a meeting cancelled yesterday I found myself with unexpected time on my hands. I was fortunate as all this week the weather has been wet or very overcast, but yesterday it was sunny. Therefore I decided to make good use of this bonus.
However, before I tell you about that, I must say that I have been extremely busy working on a possible new project, watch this space for details to come. But it was in relation to this new project that I was supposed to be meeting with other people, but due to events outside of all our control, they had to cancel. It was so last minute that I had already left to travel in to Newcastle. Fortunately, I had missed the earlier bus that I had planed to catch and while waiting for the next one, I got a call on my mobile. As I had been trying to get into town early, had it not been for modern telecommunications I would not have known until I arrived for the meeting.
That left me feeling more than a little disappointed as I had spent a lot of time preparing for this business meeting. However, it is just one of those things that happens in life.
All this meant that I had unexpected time, so I decided to use it productively, and went back out, after changing, to go and watch some wildlife. As my regular reader knows, I have been puzzling over some unexpected animal behaviour among the badgers. At one of the Setts that I am watching, I have seen the badgers tramping over the tracks of the Roe Deer. So I went down to that area partly so I could see what else is about, as normally I am there in the dark. There were a significant number of small birds about feeding on the remains of the peanuts that I am using to feed the badgers. Therefore, I had the delightful vision of small flocks of great, coal and blue tits feeding. I used the opportunity to carefully examine the deer track.
Settling down I watched the birds and I was pleasantly surprised to see an old friend come along, the Fox that I filmed previously.
By watching the birds I realised what the badgers have been doing. The deer use a track that’s a quagmire most of the time. Because the ground is soft and muddy it’s a good area for worms, which is evidenced by the number of molehills I see. But what’s happening is that the worms are coming out after the Deer pass because of the droppings. The badgers are going down for the worms and in doing so are obliterating the signs of the deer.
It was all quite logical in the end, but it did look as though the badgers were deliberately masking the Deer’s passage.
However, before I tell you about that, I must say that I have been extremely busy working on a possible new project, watch this space for details to come. But it was in relation to this new project that I was supposed to be meeting with other people, but due to events outside of all our control, they had to cancel. It was so last minute that I had already left to travel in to Newcastle. Fortunately, I had missed the earlier bus that I had planed to catch and while waiting for the next one, I got a call on my mobile. As I had been trying to get into town early, had it not been for modern telecommunications I would not have known until I arrived for the meeting.
That left me feeling more than a little disappointed as I had spent a lot of time preparing for this business meeting. However, it is just one of those things that happens in life.
All this meant that I had unexpected time, so I decided to use it productively, and went back out, after changing, to go and watch some wildlife. As my regular reader knows, I have been puzzling over some unexpected animal behaviour among the badgers. At one of the Setts that I am watching, I have seen the badgers tramping over the tracks of the Roe Deer. So I went down to that area partly so I could see what else is about, as normally I am there in the dark. There were a significant number of small birds about feeding on the remains of the peanuts that I am using to feed the badgers. Therefore, I had the delightful vision of small flocks of great, coal and blue tits feeding. I used the opportunity to carefully examine the deer track.
Settling down I watched the birds and I was pleasantly surprised to see an old friend come along, the Fox that I filmed previously.
By watching the birds I realised what the badgers have been doing. The deer use a track that’s a quagmire most of the time. Because the ground is soft and muddy it’s a good area for worms, which is evidenced by the number of molehills I see. But what’s happening is that the worms are coming out after the Deer pass because of the droppings. The badgers are going down for the worms and in doing so are obliterating the signs of the deer.
It was all quite logical in the end, but it did look as though the badgers were deliberately masking the Deer’s passage.
Posts
1 comment:
Great Pics! MsTree :)
Post a Comment