NOISES OFF
On Friday evening (18th March) my wife and I heard a commotion out in the paddock and went outside to investigate. There is an outside security light that illuminates the area. We tiptoed over towards the noises to within about five feet of two three quarter grown badgers who were having a real set-to.
They were go engrossed in their pugilistic antics that they did not notice us and we watched them for a good three minutes. It was a really viscous fight with bites and claws. One of the protagonists suffered a long slash over its rump that was bleeding quite heavily.
Finally Jennifer asked them, in a deliberately high pitched voice, “what on earth do you think you are doing?” at which the battle immediately stopped. They looked around and, although we were clearly visible, seemed not to see us immediately. They both sat up, searching and eventually one of them spotted us. They both galloped off across the paddock to the hedgerow and towards their sett. The injured badger was just as fast as the other one.
It is a very large sett beneath an ancient oak tree and looks for all the world as though a JCB has been earth moving. We regularly see badgers on our late evening walks down the drive and almost every night they lift the small cast iron covers off the storm drains, presumably to get at the water.
The two problems they cause are that they regularly plough up my lawns and, more sadly, they have seen off the hedgehogs that used to frequent our ground.
-Graham
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