All or nothing!

So the night before there are two badgers off and on all night, making the most of peanuts, apples and water.  Lots and lots of video footage to choose from. Last night - zilch, nothing, nadda.  So why would that be?  Chopped apples and peanuts put out just the same, water bowl refilled, so everything in place.  Except that yesterday it rained.  Then it rained again.  And again until late in the evening.  I can only guess that this means the ground softened up, the worms came to the surface and were much easier to find, so there was no need for the journey to our front garden for the easy feed.  Hopefully that's the case and they'll be back for the easy meal tonight or at least very soon.  

In the meantime it gave the squirrel and a few birds an early morning treat.  They need to eat too!

The Best!

Last night was the best night so far for badger trail camera footage.  Two badgers and so many good images I don't know where to start!  Unfortunately, poor internet connection in Wales (no superfast broadband here - sad face) means that I am limited in the videos I can post, also bearing in mind that one 20 second clip takes an absolute age to upload and I have to keep in mind that a member of the family is working from home so I am constrained with what I can do unless I wait until the evening.

This is all very frustrating as you can imagine.  Where I lived before we had a Virgin hub, superfast, stream as much as you like and everyone in the house could be online at the same time.  Those were the days!  This is one of the penalties for choosing to live in rural Wales and I'm not "really" complaining.  Well, I am, but it does no good.  Houses less than a mile away have superfast, we even know someone not too far away with ultrafast . . . . . . . . . . . ok, I'll stop crying now.

One badger slightly smaller than the other so I'm assuming this is a parent (mother?) and a cub.  Pointy Tail (possible parent) and Bushy Tail (possible cub) doing their thing for quite some time.  The apparent cub is slightly more nervous and easily spooked.  This time I had some apple to put out for the first time.  Interesting that they ate all the peanuts first (I can see the chunks of apple being left) then eventually turned to the apple, a little wary of it at first.  This is probably the first time they have had apple.  Good to see them both having a good drink of water, so much so that the bowl was completely empty this morning when I went to fetch the cameras.

Heatwave ends and more rain!

Finally the heatwave comes to an end and we have some more much needed rain.  Nothing dramatic, but it's a start.  I'm still putting out water for the badgers and sprinkling a few peanuts around.  It must be hard to find worms in the ground that has turned to concrete.  Hopefully this bit of rain will help a  little.  

And at last I have proof that more than one badger is visiting the garden.  I've suspected as much by looking at tails!  Not much more to go by as otherwise they all look the same, no obvious distiguishing marks, or at least none that I have had the time to observe.  Could even be three, but unless they all appear on camera at the same time it's hard to be sure.  Next time could you both please hang around a little longer and position yourselves centre screen?  That would be just great, thanks!  This is Bushy Tail and Pointy Tail.  If you can think of better names for ID purposes, feel free to let me know!

Rain at last!

Finally we have had some rain, although it's still very warm, but no longer blisteringly hot.  Phew!  What a relief.  And it must be a relief for the wildlife too, but the rain so far hasn't been too significant so there is still a need to put out water for the birds and any other wildlife that happens by.

Here's our nightly visitor, with the Tawny Owl chick still chirping in the backgound.  Maybe one night I will actually see this little bird who seems to have taken up residence in our front garden.

Love the curious nature of badgers who often glance at the camera or even snuffle all over it.  This one takes a good look before carry on around the garden on the hunt for peanuts, during a first shower of rain for quite some time.

The rabbits need to drink too!

 

Long summer days, short summer nights, the heatwave continues

Tawny Owl chick chirping while the badger eats the peanuts.  Mr (or Mrs) Badger is very predictable now and arrives in the front garden around 11pm every night.

It's always a pleasure to see a badger making the most of the water bowl during this very long spell of continuing hot weather.

Bubbles.

Meet Bubbles.   Bubbles doesn't get invited to select dinner parties anymore.  Turn the sound up, then you'll know why!

Regular Visitor

This continuing hot weather must be having some impact on the wildlife, which is pretty obvious really.  Our badger (or badgers) are visiting the front garden nightly and usually not long after sunset, so are coming from not too far away.  Worms must be very hard to find with the ground baked like concrete, so the scattering of peanuts I am putting out must be a very welcome and easy find, as is the bowl of water.  

It's a relief for me not to trudge to the bottom of a steep hill in the hot weather in order to place the cameras in a likely spot.  The badgers are making life easy for me by coming right up to the house.  It would be nice to get more than one in a shot, but maybe that's just being greedy!  But at least it would prove whether or not there is more than one visiting the garden, or the same one coming back later in the night to check if he (or she) has missed anything.

Wherever I put peanuts, the badger will find them even when it's right by the house.

Busy night by the gate

Quite a busy night down by our gate.  Badger, fox (and our cat), one after another.  Badger and cat within a few minutes of each other so neither is bothered by the other it would seem!

Sound up for this next video, nothing to see apart from maybe the rabbit who triggered the camera, but  fox barks close by, towards the beginning and towards the end of the video.