Gardening
Wildlife watch
The badger
If you have badgers visiting your garden then May is the best time to try to watch them, says writer and photographer, David Chapman
Although the sow badger will have given birth a few months ago she will still be suckling her young and so needs to find plenty of sustenance. When her cubs were born she would have been reluctant to leave them alone for long periods but now the cubs are ready for anything, entering an adventurous phase and looking to explore their new world. Mother will have to go with them to make sure they come to no harm.
With darkness restricted to just a few short hours the badgers will emerge long before night fall to begin foraging. Badgers eat a lot of grubs and worms but will take a wide range of foods including, most astonishingly, honey from wasp's and bee's nests. During very dry summers they may have difficulty in finding enough food and this is when they can cause damage to gardens. A well-watered lawn is a perfect foraging ground for badgers and they may turn over the grass in pursuit of worms.
If you think you might have badgers in your garden and would like to watch them more closely then try leaving a trail of peanuts for them. If you have motion activated security lights you will notice that the badgers become quite accustomed to them.
