Diary 2007 Page Three

8th May, 2007
There is some good news; not such good news and some really bad news!
The good new is that all eight chicks have hatched.  The last was at 8.12 on Sunday morning; two days after the first.  The not such good news is that the parents still haven't used the mealworm feeders.  I made a new one, following the plans on this site and hung it in the hawthorn, as I mentioned on the previous page.  It was decided that we'd try to tape it to a branch in the tree rather than letting it dangle in the wind.  They still didn't find it.  In desperation, on Monday morning, I posted a couple of mealworms through the hole in the box.  Viv watched from the monitor in the study.  Once she had relaxed from the intrusion, she picked up the first one and.... took it out!!  She returned and did the same with the other one.  We don't know if she ate them or dumped them!  So annoying.
This afternoon, they are still being fed on naturally occurring food and all seem to be OK... so far.
The really bad new concerns our oldest badger, Pinky.  I mentioned on 22nd April that she wasn't looking very well.  Then, on 23rd, she seemed much brighter.  On Sunday she looked worse than ever.  She arrived quite late and seemed to be having trouble walking.  She was poorly co-ordinated and tottered about on the patio.  Several times, she would put her head down and her legs would buckle under her.  She seemed to need to sleep or just curl up and die.  I watched for over half an hour.  Most of the time, she was under the bird feeders where the badgers always eat the remains of the seed that is on the ground.  Again, she was putting her head down and collapsing.  I realised that there was nothing we could do so we went to bed.  I fully expected to see her lying dead in the garden on Monday morning.  I couldn't find her anywhere.  I am pretty sure that we won't see her again.  Here is a short video of her tottering about on the patio.  You can see how long her claws are, too.

12th May, 2007
The good and bad news continues.  We tried to see a vet about Pinky but didn't get further that the reception desk.  A receptionist suggested that we should contact the local badger watch group.  I explained that I am a member and really wanted professional advice from a vet.  We got nowhere so I phoned the HQ in Saundersfoot. I explained the situation and symptoms of Pinky and was assured that she is just a very old badger.  Joy Hands has been helping badgers for a great many years and has a huge amount of experience.  She didn't think Pinky would last long.  After some discussion, we agreed that, as it was a weekend and a vet would be difficult to find, we'd let nature take its course for the weekend but, if we saw Pinky again, we'd arrange to collect a capture cage and try to get her to a vet on Tuesday.

She didn't appear last night so we were hoping not to see her.  It is now 10.40 on Saturday night and after all the food had been eaten by three other badgers, Pinky arrived.  She looks dreadful.  In going from the steps to the far side of the deck, she lay down twice and both times we thought she was dead.  She still got up and staggered off into the night. 

The good news is that the bluetits have finally found the mealworm feeder and are making up for lost opportunities!
I moved the main one yesterday afternoon.  It had been peeing down with rain so the BTs had been looking under the eaves of the house to find spiders etc.  I decided to make the entrance hole smaller so that sparrows can't get in and hang it right outside our patio window, under the eaves of the bungalow.  Within 20 minutes, the female found it and after studying how to get in, finally started to take them to her chicks.

Viv and I watched as we were having lunch and she was absolutely non-stop; like a shuttle run, feeder to box and back again.  We watched outside and at the camera inside the box.  Viv couldn't believe that the chicks wouldn't be sick.  They were gorged!

I have had to refill the feeder within an hour or so!!

I have started to edit all the video that I have from inside and outside, including gruesome close-ups on her butchering mealworms.  They remove the head and entrails before they feed them to the chicks.  It seems that mealworms can bite!  Clearly not enough to harm us, but nasty for the tiny tongue of a young chick.  They take the entrails because mealworms are vegetarians so all that bran would probably have the same effect as All-Bran!!  It's bad enough to watch her swallow the faecal sacs when the chicks are newly hatched!  Now, thank goodness, she removes them.
Here is one sequence of her using the feeder.  Click the video icon.  It's 1.8megs and lasts for 30 seconds.
14th May, 2007
I had a busy day yesterday so didn't have time to update.  The chicks continue to thrive, thank Goodness!  See the picture of eight gapes!
I read dreadful news from the nests at http://www.biggonline.co.uk
They have lost two complete broods of bluetit chicks and believe it was due to a lack of suitable food.  I know how distressing that can be from our experience two years ago.  We had that lovely spell of warm, sunny weather and many broods hatched towards the end of it.  It was replaced by cold, wet and windy weather.  The little grubs were either washed away or blown away.

We are worried that the male of our pair is very conspicuous by his lack of commitment.  We saw him briefly on Saturday but not since.  Poor old Mum has had to work twice as hard to keep her brood fed and cleaned.  She is doing a great job, too.  Several times this morning, I saw her bringing two mealworms at a time to the box.

The news of Pinky is not good.  We saw her on Saturday evening.  She tottered onto the patio after all the food had been eaten.  At one point, she lay down with her head outstretched.  Viv was watching her and thought that she had died, at last.  She called me to see her and I saw her rise and stagger a few steps and then rest again.  It's so sad.  We have now decided that there is nothing that we can do.  If we try to catch her, it will cause her dreadful stress.  Even if she survived that, she would have to be shut in the crate all night, in the garage and then be taken to a vet.  During that time, she would not have access to food or drink as there is no way that we could get it to her.
We assume that this type of drama of old age and death is occurring all the time.  It's just that, this time, it's on our doorstep!  We now believe that it would be kinder to just let her be. 


Sparrow attack

Yesterday morning, I was busy catching up on editing video that I have been capturing.  Some clips will be sent to the BBC for Iolo's Safari programme.  The picture shows a cock sparrow who has been pestering our poor female BT.  He seems to want to take over the nest box.  We have seen him trying to get in, on several occasions.  If she happens to be inside, she gets really upset and 'screams' at him to "BOG OFF" or something similar.  If she isn't inside, we have seen her attack him quite bravely and with great determination.
If you click on the video icon, you will see the sparrow intrusion in full.  It's 2megs and lasts for 38 seconds. Another interesting event was when we saw a great tit trying to get worms from the feeder.  The hole is too small for him and he was getting very frustrated.  Mrs BT entered the feeder and  emerged with a worm and was the victim of an attempted mugging as he tried to steal the worm from her beak!
15th May, 2007
I was really surprised to see Pinky again last night but, when she came again today, it was unbelievable.  She takes an age to get across the deck to the food and, once there, lies down to eat.  I thought we'd have a problem last night because, while she was with us, three other badgers arrived in turn for some food.  Mostly, they ignored Pinky but the last one started to groom her and she reciprocated.

I took some video of her last night and again tonight.  Here are a couple of clips of her.



Here she is at the bowl



And here they are grooming each other.
20th May, 2007
Is it really five days since I updated?  Wow!  How time flies!  The chicks have continued to thrive in spite of all the attempted muggings from the neighbourhood hoodlum sparrows and great tits.  She has started to fight back and beat them at their own game.  I have reduced the size of the hole on one end and blocked off the other.  I can't afford to feed all the local population of garden birds!  The bluetit chicks should fledge in a couple of days.

We saw poor Pinky again on Friday.  She crawled into our garden so I put a bowl of food very near to her.  She ate all the food but took some time as she rested between each mouthful. This was a picture that was grabbed from the video.  It was just before she disappeared through the gap in the hedge. She is lying behind the crèche that we have which gives the ground-feeding birds some protection from sparrowhawks and cats!
There is also a picture of the female bluetit inside the mealworm feeder which was grabbed from the video.  Click on the image for a larger version and on the video icons to watch the videos.
 
Poor old Pinky resting
 Female BT in the mealworm feeder

22nd May, 2007
The chicks are all testing their wings and spend a great deal of time preening and flapping.  Some 'flaps' last for several seconds, enough to reach the safety of the hawthorn, I hope.  Still not much sign of that useless mate, though!  The female is doing all the feeding.
I was surprised to find her with the chicks again last night as she has a very disturbed night with all the preening that goes on.  She doesn't cover the chicks but tries to find some peace in a corner of the box.  We may see the first chicks leaving today.  It's a nice warm, sunny morning so conditions are ideal.
The large windows on our patio doors are in a dreadful state.  They are festooned with heads and guts from the mealworms.  There is even a solitary faecal sac stuck on the glass.  There is not much point in cleaning them until the chicks fledge and I have moved the feeder into the hawthorn.  I have added some pictures to illustrate the carnage!

Window showing guts and sacs on the wire A closer version of the first picture Even closer
One of the mealworm entrails

The three pictures above show the window which is near the electric cable that goes to the patio light.  This is where she often butchers the worms and so the guts frequently hit the window and stick!  The cable is where she scrapes the faecal sacs from her beak.

On the left is a picture of the entrails of a mealworm.  On the right is a faecal sac that looks more like a sprouting seed as one of the strands of gut is so close.

If you have a strong stomach, you can click on an image and it will open a new page with a larger version.

 Faecal sac and gut
Here poor old Pinky again.  We couldn't believe that she'd be back after we saw her stagger off on Friday.  But, here she is again.  She arrived not long after I had published the details on Sunday.  We lowered a bowl to her.  It was tied with string onto a broom stick and we then squirted water into it.  She drank a great deal.  She also had some cooked pasta and peanut butter sandwiches.  She didn't eat a great deal.  Once she'd had enough, she left.  Please don't come back, Pinky!  There is a short video of her.  Click the video icon to view it and click the picture of Pinky for a larger version.
 

Poor old Pinky
24th May, 2007
The chicks have all fledged.  Five left yesterday morning and the last three went in pretty quick succession this morning before 10.00am.  I watched one fly from the box to the hawthorn where it called for mummy.  The mealworm feeder is now back in the hawthorn so that I can clean those dirty windows.  There is a short video of the last two leaving if you click on the video icon below the picture of the last three, as they were last night... looking lost! Does the last one shout "Geronimo!" just as he leaves??


I am relieved to say that Pinky hasn't been seen again.  I hope it's all over for her

The last three looking lost!
I had an unusual request, over the weekend.  I was emailed by another website.  They want to know whether badgers really do like mashed potatoes, as sung in the song from the children's TV programme, "Bodger and Badger".  You can read all about it here:-

 (http://www.outdooridiots.com/features/200705/badgersandmash/badgersandmash.asp)

Tonight, there will be a bowl of plain mashed potatoes on the deck outside the window.
25th May, 2007
The badger and mash experiment had mixed results!  It looks as if my bandwidth was overloaded by the number of spectators.  However, the outcome showed mixed preferences.
 
The first badger sniffed the bowl and went on to eat what the little vixen had left of the chicken carcass.  It didn't touch the mash.

The next badger was left with nothing to eat as the vixen and first badger had scoffed everything except the spuds! It ate some but not much.
The next looked, sniffed and passed!
The next one was interrupted whilst eating by another badger. It went to greet the new arrival but got a nip for its trouble so left!
The last badger came towards the bowl, squatted to mark its space, sniffed the spuds, declined the offer and then cocked its leg to scent mark the steps on the deck.  It then left.

However, the bowl had been licked clean this morning.  It was quite obvious that they attack pasta with far more enthusiasm.  Maybe they're Italian badgers?!?

Tonight, there will be more mash but with some mouldy crème frâiche mashed into it. In the other, I'll put some pasta.
28th May, 2007
Busy, busy, busy.  We collected our 11 year old granddaughter plus a friend on Saturday which involved a 250 mile round trip.  Since their arrival, we have hardly had time to relax.  However, I did manage to grab some video of part two of the badgers and mash experiment.

You may remember that on the first night, the plain mashed potato was eaten... eventually, but mainly because there was nothing else.  A bit like Old Mother Hubbard!  Here are a few videos of the second night.
The first shows two badgers feeding.  One is eating the pasta with the oil from a can of tuna mixed in, whilst the other eats peanut butter cubes and raw peanuts.  A third badger arrives, sniffs the mash and passes to help eat the cubes and nuts.
This one shows two badgers who are licking the very liquid crème frâiche mash when another arrives and finds the pasta all gone and no room at the trough so he moves on.
The last video shows what happened when the two who were eating the mash knocked the bowl off the top step.  By now, it was almost empty but there was some potato stuck to the bowl.  The final, determined badger did not want to leave without trying to turn the bowl over to get to the last of the creamy mash.  He spent several; minutes pushing the bowl around the deck, trying to invert it so as to be able to lick it clean.  Eventually, he gave up and left.

5th June, 2007
I have now stopped the badgercam.  It became very obvious that my broadband connection in rural Wales is not reliable enough.  Thanks to the experiments with the badgers and mash, I discovered that my connection drops out too often.  Once the webcam is started, it reads the IP number and sends the picture to the server.  If that number changes, as it does when the connection drops out, it can't transmit and I get an error message.  Even if the connection stays up for a while, we found that the page does not refresh as it should.  This may be a problem with the webcam software, the browser, the javascript or a permutation of any or all!

Until I get a better and more reliable connection, I am removing the webcam. I apologise to the regulars.

Meanwhile, our bluetit chicks have returned to feed in our garden.  So far, I have only seen four all at once.  I hope the others are around somewhere.  Old Pinky hasn't been seen since 22nd May so we assume she has died somewhere.