An unlikely place to see a badger
Sometimes, if we see the most ordinary of things in an unexpected context it can jolt our senses. I was once transfixed for half the train journey to London by a woman flossing her teeth – she nonchalantly rinsed her mouth with spring water, spitting into a plastic bag whilst chatting to her friends! Another time - again on a train - I was travelling through Germany and I remember being shocked by the workmen drinking steins of lager with their breakfast.
All of which is a contrived
introduction to the unexpected context in which I last saw a badger.
It was shuffling
across the scrubby cliffs on the approach to St David’s Head. I was there at midday
and had passed Porth Melgan beach when I saw it - in truth the badger wasn’t
so much shuffling as scurrying, covering the ground at a pace I’ve not seen one
travel before.
Badgers are relatively
common in Pembrokeshire. There are numerous setts in the lanes near my house,
though a good sighting is still infrequent enough to make a comment if not exactly stop the car. Most times
we spot a badger it’s caught in the headlights as
we drive home – if we see one in the daylight it’s invariably road-kill.
One spring a young cub
took to visiting our garden and we’d peek between the curtains to
watch it sniffing for worms on the lawn. Lit by the glow of the street lamps it
reminded me of those nature watch programmes that set up hidden cameras
to film cubs feeding at night - badgers were considered special then, and in many ways they
still are, though recent increases in numbers have led to fears of a link
to bovine TB, and the threat of culls.
I don’t know about the
science but I find the prospect of culls rather sad. We have so few wild
mammals and these sturdy creatures seem to me to be symbolic of a widely held feeling that our
countryside shouldn’t all be lost to industrial agriculture. How anyone could ever
find sport in baiting them is beyond me – thankfully that’s been illegal for a
long time.
Watching the badger
scurry away, it looked rather comical – hunched and dwarfish, stubby legs
racing to catch up with an elongated snout. I learned recently that badgers are related to weasels. I’d
not seen the resemblance before, but there's a vague familiarity
in the head shape, though the gait of the one I saw didn’t suggest the cunning we associate
with its smaller cousins.
Badgers have long been
anthropomorphised in stories, often as trusty stalwarts, as in The Wind in the Willows. Ironically, in that book, the weasels and stoats are the bad guys, ending up on the wrong end of Badger’s
cudgel! But if I were writing in
that fashion, my badgers would be rugby forwards: a touch dim on first impression,
but single minded and built for their task – absolutely necessary too, for all that we
don't notice or appreciate them enough.
Returning to my
encounter, it had never occurred to me to look for badgers on the coast path. I suspect the one I saw had wandered a little too far for comfort,
hence its haste to reach the flatter ground. But why wouldn’t they be there? Beyond the head is a wide expanse of moor, plenty of places for a deep
sett, and a deal less interference from farmers or car headlights.
The strange thing
about these encounters is how they affect our returning. Every time I pass through Didcott station
I remember that woman flossing her teeth; I still have an entirely unreasonable
preconception that all German workmen drink beer with their breakfast! And the
next time I visit St David’s Head I shall look for badgers on the off chance –
I doubt I’ll see any, but it won’t really matter. Sometimes, the knowledge they
are there is enough.
I'm sad to be seeing so many dead badgers at the side of the road. I wonder if it is the cubs getting more daring and exploring away from home.
ReplyDeleteWe don't have badgers here in Nova Scotia so it was lovely to read your post and description; also your views on permanent memory through association. Guess you were on your bike.
ReplyDeleteI've seen one on the cliffs at Weymouth. We have badgers on the allotment too - I can no longer grow sweetcorn as they love the stuff.
ReplyDeleteWhen I was doing my Masters at Cardiff we were taken on a night time badger watch by the field centre warden. It was magical.
I've written about a badger encounter on the blog too - our neighbours saw one of our cats square up to one in front of their house. He's now called Skimble the Bold.
Badgers were if not numerous at least well represented when I lived in Surrey. You could see them on the downs in the early hours...untroubled by anyone or anything.
ReplyDeleteAnd though it was not at all an unexpected place to see them that is how I see them still...shapes in the half light among the furze.
How good, if unusual to see a live badger in broad daylight. There are quite a few setts in our area and I occasionally find myself driving behind a badger in our deep and narrow lane at night until it finds somewhere to escape to. From behind and in motion they really are quite comically endearing.
ReplyDeleteI had the pleasure of following a pair of Badger cubs up the road to my house recently. Their back feet when they run are the oddest things to see from behind.
ReplyDeleteI have yet to see a live badger in the wild. Sadly I have seen far too many lying dead by roadsides and in verges. A sad indictment of the world we have created.
ReplyDeleteIt's been a while when i saw one, i think we humans had been pushing them into extinction. ~ bike sheds
ReplyDelete