Badger Cubs

We have Badger Cubs!

I tried to think of some way of adding some tension or trying to write something so that you, dear reader, didn't share my discovery until the end of this posting, but I am just to excited by this. For at least the past month, I have suspected they were there in two of the Setts that I am observing, but without direct sightings I could not be sure.

Because of an urgent request from one of the potential publishers of the book on the Badgers that these observations will be going into. I had to ensure my observations were up to date. Therefore, I went round to the setts and tried to ascertain what was actually happening rather than speculate. One of the advantages of living in the north is the longer daylight period. This enabled me to more rapidly travel on foot between the different Setts. Even so it is still a two hour walk to get round all of them and I still need time to see what's happening. It is not just a matter of there's a badger and another, but via watching work out what is really happening in their lives.

While at one of the setts I saw two cubs above ground with their mother well away from the Sett. They were busy grubbing for worms and engaging in the rough and tumble of badger play. I even became involved, involuntarily, as one of the cubs discovered pulling my boot lace was a great game.

However the sow decided she didn't like her cubs being near a human and she charged me. As I was travelling light, no camera or heavy equipment just a digital Dictaphone to make notes on, I was able make a swift exit. Once I was several meters away, everything was fine and they all went back to feeding and playing. I quietly departed from that Sett and headed for the largest sett.

The dynamics of this one has become fascinating as the old Brock was killed by traffic in February, and there are now three males competing for the top job. However, the realignment of the social dynamic has caused two of the pregnant sows to move away to an as yet unknown satellite sett.

I could hear that the badgers were active as I approached, and I wished that I had some night vision equipment, as it was difficult to work out what was actually going on. While there was feeding activity going on, and some rough and tumble, I was confused by the number of animals that were there.

I allowed my eyes extra time to adjust to the light, and settled down to see if I could discover the story of the behaviour pattern. It looks as if one of the younger males, he is about four or five years old, has become the lead Brock. Once I was more sure of the dynamics of the situation I moved in closer and settled down at the base of a tree. Whenever out watching the badgers, it is never just the badgers that I will encounter, and a vole was scampering about just feet away from where I was sitting and I could hear owls were out hunting. This held my attention, was I going to see the owl hunting? I was close enough to the mouse or vole and if I could see it, I knew that an owl would spot it too. As I sat there, my attention was split between watching the badgers and the rodent. After, about fifteen minutes, I felt something fall on my shoulder and to the forest floor. Looking up I saw a Tawny Owl ten feet directly over me, I guessed that it had been a pellet that had been dropped but I could not find it in the leaf litter. I could have used a torch, but that would have disturbed the Badgers. As I watched the Owl it flew silently off into the dark.

My attention back on the Badgers, I tried to work out who was whom. One of the females I saw was one that had departed when the old Brock was killed. I could see two cubs but they were with another sow. Looking carefully, I realised that there were other cubs there too. After a time, I was able to see with certainty that there were six cubs there, four seemed to be with the wanderer. I think there were also others there but without direct observation of them I can not be sure.

While I wanted to post immediately about this, I also needed to get my manuscript updated as I had a meeting to attend.

Even though I was tired I my draft notes written and effectively wrote another chapter in one. As the publisher wanted both a hard copy and a digital version, I had to print it out. Armed with this I went to Newcastle for the meeting.

For reasons that will become obvious, we always meet in a café. I was there first, and I waited with a coffee. As winter is over, I have shaved off my beard. In the winter this stops me from loosing to much body heat in the cold. So I was rather amused when she walked right past me and sat down at the back of the room. I went over and said that it would be easier to talk if we sat at the same table.

She asked me to sit with her, it was clear that she was upset. Well without going into detail, she has become a victim of the credit crunch. Her business was reliant upon borrowing made upon her house and while she had been hoping that the banks would be kind to her, that morning she had discovered the banks just wanted their money back. So via this publisher at least the Badger book will not be published. I even had to pay for her coffee and lunch as she didn't have the money to pay for that. In fact even when I had been meeting her in her offices previously, they (the Office) had been borrowed and she was really trying to create the illusion of a successful business.

While I was sympathetic, I didn't give her the manuscript as she wanted. She said that she was sure she could sell it and that it would help save her business. I already have another publisher that is interested and I could not completely trust her to provide a deal that was right for me. After all, if she was trying to use my work to save her business it was likely that I would be sold short.

I will still complete the book and my observations, so I see this as a set back not a disaster.
This meeting had been inconvenient as I had other things I needed to do. Also, staying up all night and extending that into the day left me feeling very tired. Its no wonder that my neighbours think that I must be some creature of the night. If I am not careful I will be getting an invite from Bram Stocker.

No matter what disappointments though, it doesn't detract from the delight of seeing the Badger Cubs.