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Tales of a South Downs fox... and other ramblings

I was going to post...

Saturday, 8. August 2009, 00:17:25

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Well the best laid plans etc... I was going to post about these...
Ants and larvae

And I thought about posting about this...
Young squirrel in the garden

And tonight I got several photos of this...
Moth

I even had a close encounter with the vixen...
Vixen

But in the end all of those previous shots, for me, can't match up to this little sequence. She appeared from the back of the garden, and despite being aware of me paused by the water bowls and grazed briefly on the sultanas. It's easily the most exciting encounter with a badger to date. She was, to my amazement, really quite calm given that I was standing about 15 or so feet away. Some of the shots are cropped, but the first one is a full frame image to give an idea of proximity.
Badger





And her departure...


She seems to have a bit of a limp on the right rear leg. I'll check the trail cam footage tomorrow, but it was obvious on the video captured last night. To be truthful, I didn't notice it too much tonight. I was too intent on not moving or breathing, and hoping I could control the camera!


Nature Blog Network
Camera note: all tonight's shots were taken with the Sigma 105mm F2.8 EX DG macro lens, with the exception of the young squirrel which was caught with the EF 400mm f/5.6L USM.

Reflections on MonetThere Once Was an Ugly Duckling...

Comments

Mark Jones 8. August 2009, 04:34

Wow you saw a lot of wildlife action in the garden :yes: i bet Mrs Words was wondering why you were gasping for breath after not breathing for a while when the Badger was around! :lol:

Hopefully the Badgers leg will get better, we should think of a name for her. Heres a badger link i found.

www.badgerbadgerbadger.com - its very funny P:

Darko 8. August 2009, 05:08

I don`t thimnk I have ever seen a badger in real. How big it is? I guess not taller than foxes.
A lot of nice photos here :smile:

Adele 8. August 2009, 07:07

Excellent!!

I've seen badgers with bad bite wounds from other badgers, so maybe she's had a bit of a scrap and has a limp to show for it! (Now that reminds me of another wild species...cannot think which...)

Nice shots of the ants and moth too :up:

Words 8. August 2009, 08:42

Mark, yes after a few quiet nights things were busy again. I think it's down to the weather. A clear warm night helped a lot. I'll try to monitor her leg, but animals seem to have this problem quite often and they generally recover on their own. Haven't thought of a name yet... at the moment it's still just "Itsa" (as in "It's a badger!!!"). Thanks for the link!

Words 8. August 2009, 08:48

Darko, badgers seem very big! They can be up to 75-80cm long and are about 15cm tall. But they are very wide as well, and heavy. They can weigh 2 or 3 times as much as a fox or possibly more.

Words 8. August 2009, 08:52

Adele, it was a good moment when she appeared. The limp is very reminiscent of foxes. A fight's a possibility, but also general injury. I can't be sure, but the previous time I saw her I'm fairly sure she came in over the fence. It's around four feet on the far side, but higher on our side, so jump injuries are also a possibility. Last night she just ambled in through a gap that the foxes use a lot. She was moving ok in that loping way, but if she is used to climbing her range may be a bit limited for a while.

Anna 8. August 2009, 16:38

So wonderful close encounter with a badger! She is so lovely :smile: :smile: But my eyes and heart are captured by the moth photo here, it's very beautiful :up: :up:

Words 8. August 2009, 17:17

Anna, thanks! The moth was nice too. I got several more shots of it.

Neil 8. August 2009, 23:03

Oh excellent badger photos! The others arnt half bad either!

Words 8. August 2009, 23:52

Thanks Neil!

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