Eaten Alive by Midges

One of the reasons that I have no friends is, I very rarely get bitten by midges. When I am out with other people, it always seems that they are the eaten alive while I normally come out unscathed.

Well on Monday, after having been out in someone else's wood, I wanted to see what the Badgers were doing. While I am still waiting on the re granting of permission to access the main sett I have been watching, there are still other smaller setts I can watch. I was on my way to one of these when I saw a chap from the village, he was walking his dog, and he asked me where I was off to, I told him that I was going to see if I could observe the Badgers. He asked if he could come too.

I persuaded him not to try and bring the dog, and I waited for him at a crossroads n the track. As I waited I got a couple of bites. When he came back I took him to a point where I knew we stood a good chance of seeing the Badgers as it was close to a favoured feeding spot. Its very damp and there are a lot of earthworms as well as midges. I even scattered a few peanuts around to ensure they would stop in a place that made observation easier.

While we settled down I told him that he had to remain quiet. I know from experience that he can talk the hind legs off a donkey. After about twenty five minutes, he was getting restless. He kept on shifting about, but even so about ten minutes latter I heard the badgers coming. When I saw them, I reached across touched his arm and pointed. It was still light enough to see them clearly. In a voice far to loud he exclaimed “Badger”

He repeated it adding an expletive, that was untrue as the badger was feeding and not sexually active. The Sow, with her two cubs looked and scampered. I was more amused than anything else, as he was excited but embarrassed that he had scared them off. I told him that it was likely that they or others could return. So we waited for another hour or so. While we waited I was getting eaten alive, therefore I was worried about my companion. While the light had faded significantly, we were rewarded by three sows and five or six cubs, with all the rough and tumble they play it is some times difficult to get a tally on them.

Then after three minutes my companion stands up and says well I have seen them now, I am going to the pub. As you can imagine the badgers fled at this sudden movement. I asked if it was because of the midges? But he told me that he never gets bitten.

I waited another hour but when there was no further sign of the Badgers, I decided I would head back home too. I had suffered that night from the midge bites.

Then last night I wanted to check on the Badgers. While I love that other people are interested in seeing them, experience keeps on showing me that some people don't always have the best interest of the wildlife at heart. I did find the paw prints of dog down in the badger feeding ground. As this location is not near a path, its clear that I made a mistake showing my fellow villager the location. It may be some time before the Badgers return as the scent of dog will deter them.

This was confirmed as I waited a long while to see if the badgers showed up. When the rain started, I stayed for a good half hour, the rain can deaden the smell of dog a little, but it was clear there would be no show, so I wended my weary way home and to bed.