Last Friday evening I went badger watching with our very own Montgomeryshire (or mid-Wales) 'badger man' Gareth Morgan from Newtown. I was accompanied by a young woman named Christine Hall who is keen to develop a career in wildlife film making having graduated from university with a degree in TV production. We visited Gareth's badger 'sett' situated on farmland near Newtown which he has been studying closely for 29 years so he knows it very well indeed and of course the badgers that inhabit it. We arrived in good time before dusk and Gareth put a good couple of pounds of peanuts around the most active sett entrance in order to draw the animals out whilst Christine set up her camera about 20 feet away discreetly camouflaged by a stance of nettles. We all waited patiently. At 8.20pm we had what I can only describe as an 'eruption' of badgers as one animal after another appeared out of the entrance hole and each in turn started to gobble up with relish the treat provided for them by Gareth. Christine stood or sat absolutely still her camera rolled capturing the action taking place before her eyes whilst Gareth and I stood a few feet behind her. Gareth gave me a running commentary on the social dynamics of this particular family of badgers. We were able to differentiate between the sexes and the yearling animals and the 'feisty' boar who was obviously in charge! What really excited us most was the appearance of three cubs out of the sett entrance. This was the first time Gareth had seen the cubs this year so it was a special moment for all of us. In total we counted 12 animals all in a little group avidly snapping up the peanuts! I could see from the viewfinder on Christine's camera that she was getting some fantastic live moving footage of the behaviour of these animals. What a privilege this was indeed. Gareth spotted one animal whom he knew well and this was the female or 'sow' badger he had christened 'Tiny' who is about 12 years old. Around us swallows buzzed low over the pasture, a woodpecker called from the great oak tree situated at the sett and a buzzard called nearby. We had earlier seen a downy buzzard chick from a vantage point above the nest. Gareth heard the 'hiss' of a barn owl and the church bell rang out nine bells on the hour. The sett is in an amazing location with two immense ancient oaks towering above it where the animals have excavated their extensive labyrinth of tunnels below the roots. Also here is a fallen thick trunk of a long dead oak tree and on the trunk you can see where the animals had been playing as it had traces of muddy paw prints all over it and scratch marks where they had been cleaning and honing their powerful digging claws or perhaps even 'scenting' by that I mean leaving their distinctive 'clan' scent within the confines of their sett as a territorial marker.
We left the sett at dusk to allow the badgers their privacy and our sudden movements set them scurrying back into the sett. But as we glanced back at the sett from a distance it wasn't long before the animals were out again. They were accustomed to Gareth's voice and his scent because of his regular visits to their subterranean dwelling.
We were all exhilarated by our nights watching of one of Britain's most fascinating and ancient mammals the 'badger' or 'Mochyn Daear' ('Earth Pig' in Welsh), and Christine had a wide smile across her face all the way back to Machynlleth!
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