Badger for Sunday lunch

And no… as I pointed out when I mentioned this on my photography forum, I am still very much a vegetarian.

I‘ve blogged about our tame badgers before. They started coming round about ten years ago after our neighbour rescued two orphaned cubs. From recent discussions with his daughter, they turned “wild” as they grew up and she hasn’t had sight of them for a long time. We can only presume they are the same pair that visit us, but I can stroke one of the badgers and he follows us around the garden like a dog. Some years ago he would often be waiting in the border for us when we got home from work. In the dark of a winter’s evening, having a large black and white creature leap out from the shrubbery was something of a nightmare, but he only wanted his jug of peanuts.

We hadn’t seen him since January this year when he visited on a regular basis for about three weeks. It was just long enough to invite my friend and her husband round and we got them within about six feet. Shortly after, he vanished once again, leaving us wondering if he would ever come back.

Then he turned up about two weeks ago, which is why I called the neighbour. Scruffy is now looking his age and I wanted to make arrangements for us all to feed him whenever possible. Her campers had reported noises under their huts and she was going to ask if anyone could give a description of the intruder. I haven’t heard from her yet, but around lunchtime last Sunday I caught one of the cats staring out of the kitchen window. Following his gaze, I saw a lone badger on the lawn looking for leftover peanuts from the night before. I headed out to the shed and he followed me at a distance of around four feet. Once the peanuts were on the ground, he got stuck in and I was able to sit down with my camera and have a little daylight photoshoot.

I feel sad that I will never know which visit will be his last and yet I am so grateful to have had a wonderful relationship with such a magnificent animal for so many years.