New Badgers on an Old Sett

Late on Saturday I got a call and was invited to do some wildlife watching the following day. As the weekend was very wet, as per the forecast I was not sure about this. But I did agree and at a quarter to four on the Sunday morning I was picked up.

As my regular reader will know, I helped with a site survey on some private land that contains a remnant of ancient wood. This lead to me being asked to help with relocating some rabbits where I saw Golden Eagles. That only happened because the wife of one of the land owners had just given birth. Therefore, in spite of the poor weather and my lack of sleep, I had agreed to go. While I too my cameras with me there was little prospect of my filming as while I can and do protect them in the rain it was very heavy rain we were having.

Anyway I explain all that as my expectations were not that high. As had happened on my previous time there, they had set up a tent that we could use as a hide. When we got there the mother and child where there already. While I didn't say anything, I did think that having a baby there was reducing an already small chance of seeing wildlife. And as can happen even when I am enjoying myself, I did think that I really should be in bed. As the tent was cramped I set up my Tripod outside but kept the cameras in the tent. If the rain stopped then I perhaps could use them. In the low light levels the slow shutter speed means that trying to use them without support was a waste of time.

Talking in whispers we had a long stacarto conversation about some of the ideas I had brought forth when I had looked at the site previously. One of them being the removal of lots of galvanised netting that had been placed around the perimeter of sections f the wood to prevent deer grazing a number of years before. This had been done and they had seen more fallow deer in the wood since. That had only taken ten days or so to create that effect. So was it the deer they had brought me to see?

Then the baby started crying, I really thought that would be the end of any hope of seeing anything. Fortunately as I was laying at the entrance to this tent, mother was able to sit at the back and feed baby G. As I lay there I could hear the noisy suckling noises and this nearly obscured the sounds of an approaching animal. Even I could not believe what I was seeing, a badger, a young Brock.

In their Forest was the remains of an ancient badger sett that had not been occupied for at least twenty years. The sett had been raided by Badger diggers in 1987, and the last badger was seen a year latter. One of the works that had recommended was where the chicken wire could not be removed, holes should be cut into it so that other mammals could gain access. I had even found a spot where it looked as though foxes were worrying at the fence. Anyway, within days of them creating holes in the fencing for the wildlife, they noticed that one of the old badger holes was being re dug. So the wife not following a conventional sleeping pattern anyway, had had the tent erected here so that she could bring the baby and feed her while seeing what was going on. There are two other young sows and an older female with cubs that have moved in too, but I only saw the Brock. At the time when I suggested the fencing removal, I had said that eventually the set would be used again. I was thinking two or three years, but this was amazing. Then in the distance we saw two fallow deer with a calf. That was all to brief as they caught the whiff of human sent as someone in the tent needed her nappy changing.

For me what is remarkable about these people is that they are quite clearly from the upper echelons of society, they do have a rather posh accent. Therefore it does seem strange them being as hands on as they are. But for them it is about ensuring they keep this bit of land and countryside healthy for their children.

That brings me to an aspect that I spoke about in a previous posting. As with all land in Britain there is an interaction between man and the landscape. This wood is no exemption, in fact the previous owner of the land, a farmer, so valued the land and the people who share it, that when he sold it he placed a covenant on it to keep it safe. He also went further and split the wood so that when the farm land was sold, no one person or company had complete control of the land. However one of the buyers, even though he had agreed to this had wanted to develop this wood for commercial reasons. As I suspected the fencing had originally been put there so that pheasants could be raised there. But the economics of shooting ensured that was not viable. Then he wanted to build on the land, but that meant acquiring the rest of the wood. Had it not been for me legal friend and his wife buying the farmhouse, stables and land, the developer could have succeeded then.

Anyway, a group of local residents got together to keep the wood safe, but their efforts were being undermined at each turn. Until it emerged that one of the group was apparently helping landowner who wanted to develop the site. This was all rather puzzling, until it was discovered that the man who had been a hand on the farm and is now retired, was struggling financially. Thus the developer had offered to buy his cottage and rent it back to him for helping him. So the layer and his wife have made the same offer to the old boy, and that has resolved that problem.

While I am uncomfortable with one man having that much control, at least for the moment this has all helped keep the little wood safe. Further, because of the fact that the site has four rare and endangered species on it, they are now able to move forward to get some form of legal protection for the site too.

I hope that I will be able to return there soon to share the beauty of this hidden gem.