Badgers

[robby b]

It's high time there was a thread about badgers. And especially if I'm not the only badger enthusiast on Villa Talk. So here it is, a place for badger stories and pictures as well as any reports of sightings.

 

Badger in a manger

Not that long ago when I was in the countryside one day I was lucky enough to see three actual real life badgers! But I'll kick off with a photo I took during a different kind of sighting... a few years ago I was walking through Seaford one evening close to Christmas when I suddenly saw an unusual nativity scene in the window of a printing shop:

 

 

@alreadyexists

[MNVillan]

Hate em

[Marka Ragnos]

The badger is your true king ... Ted Hughes wrote ...

Quote

I flash-glimpsed in the headlights — the high moment
Of driving through England — a killed badger
Sprawled with helpless legs. Yet again
Manoeuvred lane-ends, retracked, waited
Out of decency for headlights to die,
Lifted by one warm hindleg in the world-night
A slain badger. August dust-heat. Beautiful,
Beautiful, warm, secret beast.

 

[mjmooney]

3 hours ago, MNVillan said:

Hate em

Yeah, but you're talking about those weird American badgers. Proper British badgers are cool. 

[Tegis]

3 hours ago, MNVillan said:

Hate em

[alreadyexists]

4 hours ago, robby b said:

It's high time there was a thread about badgers. And especially if I'm not the only badger enthusiast on Villa Talk. So here it is, a place for badger stories and pictures as well as any reports of sightings.

 

Badger in a manger

Not that long ago when I was in the countryside one day I was lucky enough to see three actual real life badgers! But I'll kick off with a photo I took during a different kind of sighting... a few years ago I was walking through Seaford one evening close to Christmas when I suddenly saw an unusual nativity scene in the window of a printing shop:

 

 

@alreadyexists

What an excellent idea @robby b

I work with ecologists sometimes in my job, and I found out the other day that it’s actually illegal to publish the locations of a badger sett. 

[Rodders]

 

Thread would be incomplete without this

[magnkarl]

The badgers in my neighbourhood love plundering everyone's gardens and bins. They're acting more like raccoons. I used to like them, now I'm spending time protecting my berries and veg from them..

[robby b]

17 minutes ago, magnkarl said:

The badgers in my neighbourhood love plundering everyone's gardens and bins. They're acting more like raccoons. I used to like them, now I'm spending time protecting my berries and veg from them..

:s  Oh dear, I'd never considered that. So that's like foxes and seagulls, going through people's bins.

[Mr_Dogg]

52 minutes ago, alreadyexists said:

What an excellent idea @robby b

I work with ecologists sometimes in my job, and I found out the other day that it’s actually illegal to publish the locations of a badger sett. 

And don't keep pestering them to reveal the locations.

[desensitized43]

House backs onto a field so I get them all the time. Hated the **** always ripping up the garden, digging holes abd wrecking stuff. It used to be way worse before I got the dog. Now I just let the Labrador out. He chases them round the garden trying to play but I don't think the badgers feel the same!

[Paddywhack]

My uncle actually used to let a badger live with him in his house. As you can imagine, it was chaos. The things it used to eat and the mess it used to leave around the place.

He was a bit of a handyman and he started taking the badger to work with him. It was ridiculous, it would cause so much havoc. 

Things only got worse when he introuced a mouse to the equation a few years later.

[mjmooney]

50 minutes ago, magnkarl said:

The badgers in my neighbourhood love plundering everyone's gardens and bins. They're acting more like raccoons. I used to like them, now I'm spending time protecting my berries and veg from them..

We don't need no steenkin' badgers...? 

[Designer1]

19 minutes ago, Paddywhack said:

My uncle actually used to let a badger live with him in his house. As you can imagine, it was chaos. The things it used to eat and the mess it used to leave around the place.

He was a bit of a handyman and he started taking the badger to work with him. It was ridiculous, it would cause so much havoc. 

Things only got worse when he introuced a mouse to the equation a few years later.

[GarethRDR]

Edited August 2, 2023 by GarethRDR

[withes_shin]

[villarule123]

Mashed potato. 

[tomav84]

has anyone actually seen one alive? only ever seen them dead at the side of the road

 

[withes_shin]

2 minutes ago, tomav84 said:

has anyone actually seen one alive? only ever seen them dead at the side of the road

 

Seen a few alive.

Seen more dead, like you say in the side of the road. What you'll notice is that they have very little damage to their bodies or blood around them, this is because the farmers gas them and lay them at the side of the road so it looks like they've been hit by a car.

[robby b]

19 minutes ago, tomav84 said:

has anyone actually seen one alive? only ever seen them dead at the side of the road

 

☆☆☆  sighting report  ☆☆☆

Yes, I have but only once, it was a few years ago when I was out for a run at the start of the South Downs next to Eastbourne. I was running down a hill and suddenly in the long-ish grass near the path I saw an adult badger with two little ones, a few metres away, and just at that moment they saw me too. We were all surprised... they made me jump and I made them jump too at the same time! Then they quickly scurried away and out of sight.