Quick update

Thank you so much for arriving at this blog.

I'll give you a quick update.

I moved my blog to

www.appletonwildlifediary.wordpress.com

in October 2015.

Since then I have posted about Badgers, Barn owls, Sparrowhawks, a day at the Wildlife Crime Conference, the Big garden Bird watch, hares and lots of trail camera clips.
Please visit my new blog

Thank you

Alex

Taken by Oxford Mail

National Badger Day

Hopefully you all know that today is National Badger Day.

Back at the beginning of the summer I was approached while I was at one of the Badger marches, to see if I would be interested in taking part in a film for National Badger Day.

On the first day of the summer holidays I went down to Bristol with Elissa and Georgia to be filmed talking about our encounters with Badgers. I talked about this years cubs and how long I have been watching my local Badgers.

National Badger Day is a celebration of this wonderful creature which should be protected and celebrated not persecuted.

A few trailers have been released over the last couple of weeks but today is when the film came out. 
It has been a real privilage to be part of this as I am very passionate about Badgers and I hope this film shows everyone how brilliant Badgers are.

Here is the link 

www.youtube.com/watch?v=drcBAct42TQ&feature=youtu.be

There are lots of events going on today and over the next few days that you can join in with or you could support your local Badger group.

This was when filming had finished

Witney march for Badgers

Badger march in Oxford

These are some of the photos that I have taken this year of my local badgers. Although I go down to see them quite often it is always magical especially when they snuffle around our feet.

Afternoon off school

Yesterday I had the afternoon off school due to open evening, so the school closed early, giving me time to walk around the wood without rushing before it got dark.

Amelia and I had a great time wandering around and playing on the rope swing in the woods. Three hours went very quickly

I was out looking for anything that caught my eye, but particularly Fly Agaric as I know where a patch appears every year under the pine trees. It looked like something had been nibbling them.

A lot of the leaves on the trees are just starting to turn brown and when the wind blew great patches of leaves fell.

All the dry fallen leaves on the floor isn't very helpful when I'm trying to be quiet and creep close to get a photo of a bird or animal. I could hear the Goldcrests in the trees but couldn't get anywhere near them.

We found a few Barn owl feathers in a place where I regularly find feathers from a Barn owl, but I have never actually seen one around that area, but I don't often go there at dawn or dusk.

Out in the field, on the way back home, three Kestrels were hunting, one female and two males. They were using the telegraph wires to sit on, then swooping down into the field after something, only to return without catching anything.

Southern hawker

Fly Agaric

The night before we popped in to the woods to see if the badgers were around. After about 5 minutes these three came out, along with the cub and its mum. A couple of the badgers were picking off the blackberries with their teeth from the bush behind the sett.
At one stage we had eight badgers around us.
I put my trail camera out at the side of our garden and was happy to see the badgers still come up to visit us, even though it is at 3am.

Trail cam badgers and a fox

Since the weekend we have been putting the trail camera out in different places to try and get an idea where the badgers go at what time.

I was lucky enough to get a quick view of a fox on one of the cameras.

I am also trying to build up a log of the different badgers on my local patch to see if I can start recognising some.

I am really pleased to see that this years cub is growing strong. It is still pottering about with its mum. Back in the spring there were two cubs but I haven't seen the other one since May. I only saw it once.

A badger has been coming up to just behind our garden and snuffling around in the grass. It completely ignores the fallen apples.

I have also been looking into what badgers eat. Out in the field they are eating a lot of the maize and other crops as well as blackberries. I can tell this by what they leave in their latrines.
Out in the field I put down a small handful of peanuts, a pile of windfall apples and a pile of windfall plums. The badger really seems to enjoy the plums. I can't work out whether they eat the stone or not. They don't touch apples.

In all three places I have been noting the times the badgers appear. It seems like they come to a patch, go away, and then visit the same patch a couple of times during the night and in to the early morning.

One thing I noticed on one of the clips was a badger lifting up its leg, holding it for a moment then walking off. I have seen badgers squat to go to the toilet, but do male badgers cock their leg like dogs or do both sexes squat?

The best camera is the one you have with you

'The best camera is the one you have with you' 

I don't know who said that or where I read it but it has been true this week.

So far this week I have missed getting a photo of a young hare which was happy to hop around the allotment while my mum was weeding.

I missed a Sparrowhawk chasing a bird - twice.

I also missed getting photos of a Kestrel being mobbed by around 10 small finches.

These are some of the photos I have managed to get.

H3, one of my local Buzzards has been around a lot this week, with her mate and another Buzzard. I can hear them calling to each other in the evenings.

I have been putting my trail camera further and further away from the badger sett.
I want to see how far the badgers go at night and to see if I recognise any of them so I can see which sett they come from.
(The date stamp isn't correct)
I don't recognise the first badger but the second one, a female, comes from one of the setts I watch that is about 800m away. I know they come this way because you can follow the tracks through the grass. They also used the ditches to get places.