UPCOMING EVENTS:

Christmas Social, Dorchester, 28th November 2008

This year's Dorset Badger Group Christmas social event will be at the Dorchester Town Hall (above the Corn Exchange) on High East Street, Dorchester, on Friday 28th November from 6:30 to 9:30 pm.

This will be the first year that the Dorset Badger Group, Dorset Bat Group and Dorset Otter Group have joined forces for a Christmas social event, so it promises to be a great evening.

There will be a talk by Phoebe Carter, formerly of the Mammal Society and now of the Cotswold Water Park Society, on the subject of the beavers they have reintroduced into a catchment area in the Cotswolds and which have bred for the first time this year.

Tickets £7.50 (light supper and glass of wine included). An invitation will be sent out to all DBG members shortly.

DWT Open Day, Brooklands 31st May 2008

The first outing for the DBG display team this year was the Open Day at DWT headquarters at Brooklands farm. A glorious sunny day (a huge improvement on last year when it rained in torrents the whole day!) allowed the tent to be set up down by the wildlife pond, where the entertainments ranged from flowerpot painting to pond dipping to meadow sweeping.

Despite, or maybe because of, the wonderful weather, the event was not hugely busy (many people perhaps having taken advantage of one of the first really sunny days of recent weeks to head for the beach), but there was a steady stream of visitors throughout the day and everyone who came seemed delighted with the location and the activities on offer. Adults and children alike were also very keen to discuss and learn more about badgers, and as always the badger masks were a great success. This was also the first test for the new addition to the DBG range of badger-related merchandise - the irresistably cute Fluff Puff Badger cuddly toys. As predicted, these were extremely popular and it looks as though we will have to place an order for more very soon!

All in all, it was a very enjoyable day and a great opportunity to engage the public in all matters badger-related.

Dorset Badger Group badger watch 20th April 2008

Badger Watch, Dorset: 20 April 08 by Jane Adams.

After the Advanced Training Day at Brooklands for members wishing to be actively involved with the work of the Dorset Badger Group (a report on the day will be published here shortly), many of the participants finished off the day with a visit to nearby Badger Watch Dorset, where you can sit in the comfort of a warm hide and watch wild badgers come out of a natural sett and feed right in front of you.

We had an excellent evening with very good sightings, including three badgers just a few feet from the hide for extended periods.

You can see more of Jane's studies of Dorset wildlife on her blog Urban Extension. She also has a superb resource for local wildlife enthusiasts on her website Nature Watch Corfe Mullen.

Advanced Training Day, Brooklands 20th April

Our recent Advanced Training Day at Brooklands was a great success. Intended as a follow-up to previous training sessions which had covered the basics of badger biology and behaviour and aimed particularly at those who wished to become more actively involved in the work of the group, the day was divided into three main sections.

First, Elizabeth James opened with a very interesting and often rather moving account of her work in badger rescue. We were taken through the procedure for dealing with badger road casualties (both injuries and fatalities), including how to approach a badger, how to assess its condition and what to do next. Elizabeth also shared some lovely slides of the more positive side of badger rescue work.

After a short break and some well-deserved tea and biscuits, Sue Old gave a fascinating account of what happens when badgers are in the “wrong” place (or, as she rightly said, perhaps we should think of it as the humans being in the wrong place!). Her talk covered her work with members of the public regarding times when badgers come into conflict with humans, such as badgers in people’s gardens and under sheds, and a review of the options available to homeowners, the badgers and those like the Dorset Badger Group who seek to mediate! She also touched on planning issues, which Sofia Carter discussed in more depth after lunch.

Sofia took us through the often tricky legislation surrounding badgers and development, outlining the regulations and recommendations on how construction takes place in the area around a sett, what issues planners should consider regarding badger welfare, and the rare cases in which licences to close down a sett may be granted. She ended with an entertaining look at the publicity/fundraising work done by the Dorset Badger Group at local events throughout the summer and an appeal for extra hands to help out at the stalls!

All in all it was an informative and hugely enjoyable day, and we were delighted that so many expressed an interest in becoming more actively involved in the work of the Dorset Badger Group. As the sun went down, many of the group relocated to a nearby farm which operates a commercial badgerwatch (see video footage and report below). Despite a bit of rain, we had an excellent evening with some lovely close-up views of badgers feeding right by the hides. It was a perfect way to round off the day, bringing home to us what fascinating and lovable creatures badgers are and why becoming more actively involved in the group is a great way to make an important contribution to wildlife conservation in Dorset!

Peascombe Bait Marking 16th February-1st March 2008

On a clear and crisp Saturday morning on 16th February, nine intrepid badger enthusiasts gathered at the Peascombe site near Bridport for the start of a most interesting experiment.

The presence of badgers in the area was well-documented, with setts and holes already identified. What we were unsure of, however, and very curious to find out, was whether the two setts were home to one family or two distinct groups of badgers.

This can be determined by a process known as "bait marking" - feeding the badgers over a period of time with food to which has been added small coloured balls. These balls then pass harmlessly through their digestive tracts and are ejected with their dung into the badgers' latrine pits.

We were presented with two buckets, each containing a sticky mix of peanuts and maple syrup (both badger favourites!). In one bucket had been placed a number of blue and green balls, and in the other red and yellow balls.

We then made a number of small indentations around the setts and placed a dollop of the bait in each, blue and green used for one of the setts, red and yellow for the other, as well as scattering loose peanuts generally over the area.

We also located the various latrine pits around the site and took GPS readings to mark them for future reference. As well as a number of latrines, we also found some otter spraint, which was an added bonus.

The initial set-up was then complete and we made our way home, wondering what results our next visit would yield. In the intervening weeks, each evening volunteers visited the site to put out new marked bait.

Two weeks later we returned, this time armed with plastic gloves, spoons and trays and looking forward to a morning of sifting through badger dung! We divided into two teams, one concentrating on the "blue and green" sett, one the "red and yellow" sett, and began the process of examing dung from the latrine pitts for the presence of coloured balls, agreeing to meet back to compare results an hour later.

If there were two distinct groups of badgers in the area with separate territories, we would find no latrine pits containing both blue/green and red/yellow balls. If the setts were home to just one group, there would be evidence of the badgers sharing latrines.

After an hour's diligent investigation, the results were ready - two distinct badger groups had been identified! This was exciting news and not what we had been expecting. Not only that, but with time to spare the red and yellow team had gone exploring and found a previously unmarked latrine pit nearby containing.....only blue and green balls! What made this particularly interesting was that the "blue and green" badgers would have had to cross a river to use this latrine pit, which is unusual as badgers frequently make use of natural boundaries to mark the limits of their territories.

To be able to produce an accurate map of the two territories, more detailed research is needed, and we also suspect that there may be a third set in an as-yet-unsurveyed area nearby. But we were delighted to be able to solve the mystery of the Peascombe badgers and to have proof of two populations resident in the area!

Badger Training Day - Sunday 7th October 2007

On a bright a beautiful autumn day, around 15 "badger trainees" gathered at Stour Row Village Hall for a morning discovering all things badgery...

The theoretical part of the session consisted of a well-structured and informative talk on general badger biology and behaviour given by Elizabeth Boxall. Then it was the turn of Elizabeth James, who took us through the sad but important procedure for recording and reporting badger RTAs (Road Traffic Accidents)*.

After fortifying ourselves with some refreshments, which also gave everyone a chance to get to know each other a little better, we divided into two groups and headed off into the fresh air for the practical part of the training. Taking two different routes (with or without the need to negotiate stiles), we passed into the lovely Duncliff Wood, renowned for its beautiful carpet of bluebells in the spring.

A short walk brought us to our goal - a marvellous large badger sett - where we spent a very enjoyable half hour or so getting to know the various elements of an active sett: badger paths, latrine pits, entrance holes both frequently and less-frequently used, and the impressive spoil heaps that are signs of badger excavations.

By the end of the session, everyone had a much clearer idea of what to look for when out and about in the countryside. Records of setts are extremely valuable, as it is only by knowing the location of setts and monitoring activity at them that we are able to protect and conserve Dorset's badgers. Records are submitted to DERC, the Dorset Environmental Records Office, and considered during planning issues. Regular monitoring also allows the Dorset Badger Group to be alerted when a sett has been unlawfully interfered with.

All in all, it was an enjoyable and very informative day, and it was wonderful to see so many participants attending and eager to learn about badgers and hopefully get involved with the work of the group.

If you would like to monitor and record setts in your area or would like to attend a future DBG training day, please contact us. We would be delighted to hear from you.

*This is valuable work - records of badger road casualties are passed to DERC, the Dorset Environmental Records Office, where the data is used in developing mitigation measurements when new roads are constructed. In addition, the monitoring of road casualties sometimes leads to the rescue and rehabilitation of injured badgers as well as uncovering occasional instances of foul play, where badgers appearing to be road deaths have died by other means. Please note that you can now submit RTA records online through the Dorset Badger Group by completing our RTA form.