AnnMarie’s Blog

The Eurasian Badger (Meles meles) is a shy nocturnal mammal; it is a member of the family Mustelidae. They are opportunistic omnivores who manage to survive on what their environment offers them; more on that later, here’s a picture:

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Adult badgers typically weigh 10 or 11 kg and are 75 to 90cm long with a moderate bushy tail of about 20cm. Their distinctive black & white face is easily recognised but sadly the only place that many people will see these beautiful creatures is dead at the side of the road, where many thousands are killed each year.

The UK has an estimated badger population of > 250,000. Badgers live in communal groups of up to 14 but more typically 7 or so. There is a dominant male (boar) who will protect the territory if necessary and one perhaps two breeding females (sows). The size of the territory depends upon the abundance of food but is typically ~200 acres. Badger dispersion is relatively low and contact between neighbouring groups is often low; the Badgers preferring to mark their territory with latrines and avoiding conflict where possible (conflict between rival boars can be quite violent). Preferred ground is woodland & permanent pasture with an abundance of earthworms, their main dietary component. Badgers do not hibernate but their activity levels may fall greatly in times of cold & hardship, at which point 2 or 3 may share a sleeping chamber for warmth.

The picture below of a badger about to squeeze under a fence line, clearly shows its bushy tail:

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Badgers have an extremely varied diet that follows availability in the different seasons. As previously noted, earthworms provide the bulk of their diet, this is why they pull up grass turf & dig through droppings. A Badger may consume as many as 200 earthworms in one night, indeed earthworms are thought to make up 50% of their diet. Other favourite foods include insects, beetles, berries, roots and nuts; these probably account for a further 40% of the Badger’s diet. If the opportunity arises a Badger may take small animals such as frogs or occasionally a rabbit, rats & hedgehogs may also be taken; these small creatures probably make up the final 10% of Brock’s diet. Other than man, badgers have no natural predators however wolves & bears may kill them in competition. Whilst many are killed on our roads, the main threats to the badger are urbanisation, intensive agriculture & persecution by humans. Badgers live in underground tunnels called ‘setts’ which may be over 100 years old. Human disturbance of a sett can be disastrous.

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Setts are built up by successive generations of badgers. The main sett will be occupied all year around and consist of many meters of tunnels. Deep in the sett will be the breeding chamber where a sow will have her cubs. The chamber will be lined with bedding materials such as dry leaves or grass. It is often possible to see piles of old bedding outside the main sett entrance. The sett will also contain other sleeping chambers where the other community members can rest. Other subsidiary setts may be built around the territory and are most likely to be used when the sow has young cubs & wants peace in the main sett. In an old sett the main area can become quite complex & extensive; GPS readings from our local sett show that from bottom left to top right the sett covers some 57,000 sq. feet of surface. The 425ft length also covers quite a change in elevation, as the GPS profile below shows:

If possible badgers prefer to avoid heavy wet clay soils that are not easy to dig in or dry to lie in. A sloped, free draining woodland edge site with easy access to the forage of both grassland & woodland, is probably a Badger family’s ideal real estate.

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Having mated in spring the sow delays implantation of the embryo for around 9 months. The actual gestation period is a short one of only 7 weeks and the young cubs are born in early spring. The cubs are born blind, often in a litter size of about 3. They are initially dependant upon the sow’s milk. After 6 weeks the cubs’ eyes are open and at 8 weeks they start to venture out from the sett. These first ventures are often in April / May. By 4 months old the cubs will have their full set of teeth and be foraging for themselves. It will take a year for the cubs to reach full maturity and less than half of them will make it.

If you’d like to watch badgers yourself, probably the easiest way is to join your local Badger group, there are many across the UK. You may also be lucky and have badgers that visit your garden to look for scraps; if so, a few peanuts will encourage them no end and you may soon be able to watch them from your house.

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Many people miss the signs of local badger activity, here are a few things to look out for:

• Discarded Bedding
• 5 toed footprints on worn paths
• Dung heaps & latrines
• Spoil heaps outside setts
• Badger hair on fence lines

Below are pictures of a spoil heap and discarded bedding, click either one for a larger view:

Good luck with your watching; Badgers really are beautiful & fascinating creatures.

The local squirrels are in fine and mischievous fettle this spring. The grey squirrel (Sciurus carolinensis) can breed twice per year, with the first mating season beginning in spring. After mating the female will drive the male out of her chosen tree, where she will give birth about 6 weeks later, in a drey on some high branch. The mother will carefully rear her young for about 3 months before chasing out any hangers on and then starting to prepare for her next litter.

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Squirrels can make themselves unpopular with foresters by stripping bark from trees. They do this mainly in spring time to get access to the sweet sap beneath. Mind you, bird feeders are of course a very convenient snack bar, laid on solely for the benefit of the squirrels. Mischievous & playful the grey squirrel was introduced to Britain in 1877 from North America. It is about 30cm long with an extra 20cm of tail and can live for up to 8 years.

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Foraging is an extremely important part of a squirrel’s life; in autumn they will bury nuts to save them for the winter. They don’t always remember where they put the nuts and so sometimes help the trees by nicely planting a new tree. It’s quite surprising the rate that these little guys can put away the food, read the rest of this post to see a video demonstrating this:

At 11:57am today (April 1st) Tamsin reached double figures. It really doesn’t seem that long ago that she was just toddling around on all fours!

Anyway here is a brief description of her day:

Breakfast in bed – a good way to start any birthday. Followed by open the post, some playing, swinging, fussing of ponies etc.

Barbecue for lunch with Tamsin acting as chef of honour, see pictures. Delivery van arrived with some presents whilst we were having the barbecue.

In the afternoon we had a treasure hunt for Tamsin to find her hidden presents & after that she went for a ride on Tarragon.

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That brings us to her favourite evening meal, Lamb Chops; followed by a special chocolate cake.

To round off the day, we had fun mothing before bedtime; 4 different species of moth seen (not that we’ve identified them yet).

All in all, a busy day & a happy Tamsin.

It strikes me that I don’t post very much about my home patch. There’s lots that we can all do to help our planet, it’s flora & fauna. Whilst photographing, educating & evangelising is great, it is also important to ‘do our bit’; so what have we been doing, chez AnnMarie?

  Our Home, click image for a larger view …

We have about 50 acres of land in the heart of Dyfi forest, it comprises permanent pasture, river bank & deciduous woodland. We are bounded by river, forestry & SSSI. Our general goals are to maintain and if possible increase biodiversity. Here are some of the actions that we have taken so far:

• Reduce artificial chemical use to a bare minimum
• Plant new hedgerow
• Plant new trees
• Restore old hedgerow
• Graze pasture in a manner that encourages flower seeding & protects sward
• Leave areas of rough pasture over winter for insect cover
• Designate a specific area ‘flood plain’ & manage to encourage plant diversity
• Keep livestock out of woods to encourage young saplings & woodland floor plants
• Maintain quiet backwater for amphibians to breed in
• Leave some fallen timber for invertebrate & fungal habitat
• Establish several bird feeding stations
• Fence off sections of river bank to allow re-establishment of bank cover for riverside mammals
• Encourage & feed wild mammals, as practical
• Develop garden with wildlife friendly plants & technique, see RSPB website and Wildlife Gardener.

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The general thinking is to work in harmony with nature, not against it. The region is particularly rich in fungi and we also have a good selection of lichens. Some of the lichens are quite rare & are very sensitive to pollution, so great care is taken not to endanger them.

Not only can one help wildlife in this way but there are also lots of personal gains to be enjoyed, for example:

• Its a fantastic place to bring up our daughter
• The dawn chorus is wonderful
• You’re never alone with all the wildlife around
• We probably get fitter & healthier doing all this
• Why not beautify your surroundings with plants & wildlife
• It helps broaden our understanding of nature
• Its just good fun

There’s more that we can & hope to do, but it all takes time & resources; it also pays to go steady & learn the lessons as you go. Here are some of the things still on our wish list:

• Provide additional nesting places for a variety of birds & insects
• Plant / restore more trees & hedgerow
• Increase availability of water / bog habitat
• Provide further butterfly habitat

I hope that this has given you an idea of what I might be doing when not behind the camera or computer. Perhaps its even inspired you a little.

If you’ve decided, go ahead & vote. If you need more info, please see my previous post …

"Brock" the badger (Meles meles) is a native wild mammal of Britain (amongst other places). Omnivorous & mainly nocturnal these wonderful woodland shadows should normally live their lives undisturbed in their woodland setts. Yet they have been persistently blamed (often with little evidence) for the occurrence of TB in farm cattle. Recently in a rather disturbing development another UK cull of Badgers has been announced. For now it is restricted to Pembrokeshire; but is there any justification at all?

I normally try to keep my blog posts positive, encouraging a love of nature, but I feel that I must at least make a brief post on this topic. I shall attempt to make this post brief, simple & factual.

TB or Tuberculosis is a bacterial disease affecting a variety of species. There are several different types of tuberculosis bacilli; the one that we are concerned with here is Bovine TB (Mycobacterium bovis). This is a disease whose main effect is to cause progressive lesions in the lungs, with a long and protracted downhill effect on the sufferers health. In the UK infected cattle are destroyed & the farmer paid compensation for this loss.

Whilst this is a complicated field there are some critical facts that need to be known:

• TB transmission is mainly via inhalation – research in sheep shows that 5 inhaled bacterium produce the same infection rates as 13million ingested bacterium
• Recent Research shows that at least 80% of cattle infections are caught from other cattle.
• Emerging evidence from Organic farms suggests that lower density stocking & reduced stress levels decreases the risks of TB outbreaks in cattle
• New outbreaks of Bovine TB in areas previously clear of the disease are evidenced as being due to large scale cattle movements, mainly due to restocking after foot & mouth disease.
• Badgers are a wild reserve of Bovine TB, typically between 2% & 12% are infected. However only a low proportion of infected badgers become infectious.
• Other wild species are also a reserve of Bovine TB including fox, mink, rat and deer. Little research has been done in to the infectivity of these species.
• The main evidence for badger to cow infection comes from an experiment where infected badgers were housed in a building with young calves. Despite these ideal transmission conditions it took months for any calves to become infected.
• Badgers often root their noses in cow pats looking for worms & beetles to eat; cows tend to avoid badger latrines. Thus its more likely that badgers catch TB from cows not vice versa.
• Badgers typically have a relatively small territory of ~200acres, they live in family groups & dispersal is low unless they are disturbed by activities such as culling.
• We have a vaccine for Badgers that is being trialled in England. Initial results show that it gives effective protection to badgers and would therefore negate any transmission, if such a thing happens.
• Vaccinating cattle causes problems for government vets testing cattle. An effective cattle vaccine / test combination is expected by 2014. This would be the most effective solution since it should stop cattle to cattle transmission.
• The last large scale cull in the UK was abandoned. It cost far more than any possible gains. The bill to the tax payer was in excess of £11 million.
• The only long term detailed study of Badger / Cattle TB relationship was carried out by the ISG & reported to government. Over 10 years it showed that cattle TB cases continued to rise despite Badger culling.
• The ISG concluded "badger culling cannot meaningfully contribute to the control of TB in Britain".
• Increased bio-security on farms has been shown to assist in control of disease spread. Keeping wild animals away from feed stores, mangers & watering points are all key to success.

These are the salient points of this issue.

Given the great distress that destroying infected cows causes, it is possible to understand why some farmers may cling misguidedly to the traditional views but if only they would open their minds they should see that a badger cull is not the way forward. As for government, it has access to all the research and to authorise a badger cull must surely be pure folly or worse.

To myself & many others, including eminent scientists, the action plan from these points might be:

• Do not increase wild animal dispersion. Avoid introducing culling.
• Do trial the badger vaccine with a view to large scale deployment if required.
• Do fund an increased rate of research in to a cattle vaccine / test combo. This will enable the EU to change its legislation against cattle vaccination.
• Do increase control on cattle movements from hot spot regions.
• Do encourage farmers to improve bio-security. My own informal observations show that a low level electric fence is very effective at discouraging badgers from grazing land.

I should state that I am not affiliated to any organisation that stands to gain in this debate. My parents were dairy farmers before their retirement and I grew up working on dairy farms. I do however also love our wildlife and try to keep up with current scientific thinking.

For me the conclusions are clear.

What do you think? Vote in my poll.

Ref. & for more information please visit the DEFRA website and also the Badger Trust website.

It must be spring, just the other day this cheerful reed bunting was singing away.

Reed buntings (Emberiza schoeniclus)  breed in areas of rush & reed at the side of bogs & lakes. They are noted for singing from tall reeds or from shrub branches that overhang the water; indeed this is exactly what this one was doing. A lot more settled than the nesting Canada geese that I was watching! More on the argumentative geese in a later post.

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And not far below the Bunting, toads were a courting. The Common Toad (Bufo bufo) spawns in strings rather than the clumps of frog spawn that we find. You can see more about Toads in my post from last year.

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Nothing like some romance in the reeds

Some of our tulips are now out, merrily opening & closing their blooms according to their own schedule. What is it that drives this schedule?

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The tulips  have their own biological clocks built in; this is what drives the circadian rhythm of flower opening & closing. The tulip’s clock is reset everyday by the rising of the sun; the tulip can also move its position with the sun. This is photonasty or the tendency to physically respond to light stimulus. The tulips also demonstrate thermonasty, a response to temperature; tending to close up with a fall in temperature. Thus on a warm bright morning the tulip flowers open up beautifully but as light & temperature drop in the evening, they close their blooms again. Why have they evolved to do this?

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The tulip flower is insect pollinated and the tulip advertises with both bright colours & scent from volatile oils. The picture above shows the male & female structures, with much pollen in evidence. To remain open overnight is to both risk damage from the weather & to waste volatile scents, whilst it’s insect pollinators are not around. Thus a tulip increases its chances of successful reproduction by closing it’s blooms at night. Many flowers show this behaviour and conversely, for example, bat pollinated plants often only open their flowers at night.

Plants also use biological clocks to sense various other things such as opening leaf stomata just before dawn ready for photosynthesis and by monitoring day / night length they can tell whether its flowering season or not.

Read on to view a video …

To view how some of the garden birds approach landing on a feeder, I photographed them at high shutter speeds. The composite image below shows some of the results:

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They each appear to approach at significantly different speeds. The chaffinches certainly seemed easier to catch in frame than the blue tits, who frequently beat my reactions!

Just a brief post for now – its been a busy week

The long-tailed field mouse or wood mouse, as he is sometimes called, occurs across most of Europe including the UK. They are mainly nocturnal, living in woods, fields & hedgerows. Only occasionally will they visit houses and then only when hungry & in the absence of house mice.

This little fellow jumped across the floor of the horse barn as I was shutting up for the night:

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They have a good jump on them too, managing up to about 3ft, quite something for somebody who is only 3.5 inches long (excl. tail).

Wood mice live in burrows with separate chambers for breeding, food storage and toilets. Food types include berries, seeds, grain, nuts, snails, insects and any other opportunistic offerings. Only a few survive the winters but if they do, they may live up to 2 years. Predators are many including foxes, owls cats & weasels.

For those of you interested in the photography:

• Auto focus & image stabilisation were turned off – the mouse seemed sensitive to the noise
• I used high speed synch flash at 1/640s to freeze any motion
• Canon 5D mkII with 70-200L and 1.4 extender
• 280mm f11 ISO640