A year ago, creeping up the side of a river in a wood, listening and looking for otters, I was met by two bouncy badger cubs. I froze as they arrived at my feet, gave me a curious look, and ran back to the sett, which was about 15 yards away. They came back to me almost immediately, and proceeded to play around my feet, occasionally jogging back to the sett where the sow (female) badger was happily sitting scratching and cleaning her coat. This cavorting between me and the sett went on for over ten minutes. Finally, as I couldn’t stay frozen for ever, I waited till they were back with mum, and then tapped quite loudly with my stick on a tree. This was enough to send them down the sett, and allow me to continue my walk through the wood.
This, of course, was the experience of a lifetime. It is surprising how much one can see provided that great care is taken, watching where you put your feet – one twig cracked and your “quarry” will vanish – take advantage of the wind direction, so that your scent is blown away from your target area; move very slowly, as fast movement will quickly be spotted by wildlife; so if you want to scratch your nose, move your arm very slowly upwar~ds, even if you are desperate! Otters? Never saw or heard a sign of them, but who cares?! The best time to watch is very early morning, or dusk until dark. Many mammals – otters, badgers, foxes, hares and others – are nocturnal.
This is the time of year when the road verges around our, area burst into colour, with a rich selection of wild flowers, some of them rare. Time was when every grass field was a wealth of flowers and different grasses. The old hay meadow system, before the use of inorganic fertilisers, and high yielding grass mixtures, was ideal habitat for many species; not just flowers but also insects in abundance. There are still some traditional hay meadows in our area, and the Cumbria Wildlife Trust with Natural England, are constantly looking for these, so that they can be managed the traditional way, the farmer being paid a subsidy to do this.
I have just remembered that I promised mention of flowers from a nearby disused quarry…
I am aware that this blog is not looking quite right on Internet Explorer; my assistant is looking into it but says it’s quite technical, and if she says it’s quite technical… oh dear!