Nature Watch, with Ron Freethy

JUNE and July are fascinating months for those who are lucky enough to be able to watch a badger's sett.

Lancashire has a number of setts and this week I set off to visit one of the best.

What a pity it is that I cannot say where it is because there are still some sick people who think that "baiting brock" with dogs is fun.

Enough has been written about this cruel activity so I will content myself with describing a badger watch where the lovely creatures are wild and free. Just as the darkness started to fall the badgers emerged from their sett.

A large boar came out first sniffed the air for danger.

I was sitting in a tree with the breeze blowing away from me and soon the sow and two cubs emerged.

It was a wonderful two hours as the cubs played and the sow groomed and purred.

My companion had spread out a feast of peanuts which he said badgers loved.

How right he was.

And while the cubs were resting we watched a hedgehog sneak into the area, pinch a few peanuts and then scurry away.

Badgers are almost totally nocturnal, which is probably due to the fact that they prefer to eat creatures such as slugs and earthworms which are active at night when the humidity is high. They also take a surprising amount of fruit and seeds, especially during autumn when they become very fat.

This suggests that they hibernate - which is not, in fact, the case.

However, spells of really bad weather may keep them in the warmth and comfort of the sett where they can draw upon their body fat.

The scientific name for the badger is Meles Meles and the female gives birth early in the year so that the cubs learn to fend for themselves during the comparatively easy days of late spring, summer and early autumn.

The usual number of cubs is two or three.

Our cubs were still playing happily just after midnight when we quietly made our way home.

If you would like to find out more about badgers and how to help them, why not join the Lancashire Badger Group?

Its telephone number is 01254 848509.

Converted for the new archive on 14 July 2000. Some images and formatting may have been lost in the conversion.