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Badger ..

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    #32
    ytpe2r5bxkn0c1
    Closed Accounts Posts: 32,688 ✭✭✭✭ytpe2r5bxkn0c1


    Rows Grower wrote: »
    I know like the rest of us they need water everyday but I would have thought they would only be suited to fresh water.

    I never heard of anyone spotting a badger swimming at sea but I suppose with them being nocturnal and all that they'd be hard to spot.

    I was thinking of islands on lakes but the question was can they swim; which they can. I've not heard of them swimming in the sea but we have them on some remote western islands.


    They actually rarely need to drink, as they get most of their water from their prey.


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    #33
    Rows Grower
    Registered Users Posts: 7,822 ✭✭✭Rows Grower


    Whitney Dirty Ladybug wrote: »
    I was thinking of islands on lakes but the question was can they swim; which they can. I've not heard of them swimming in the sea but we have them on some remote western islands.


    They actually rarely need to drink, as they get most of their water from their prey.

    Never knew that, learning all the time.

    Thank you sir!

    "Very soon we are going to Mars. You wouldn't have been going to Mars if my opponent won, that I can tell you. You wouldn't even be thinking about it."

    Donald Trump, March 13th 2018.



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    #34
    Zoo4m8
    Registered Users Posts: 1,003 ✭✭✭Zoo4m8


    Whitney Dirty Ladybug wrote: »
    Marts and factories may but the movement of cattle between farms and townlands around here is certainly done using trailers that seldom see a wash.

    Hmmm...I power wash my trailer after every trip as do my three neighbours, but of course the only way the casual observer would know would be to see it being done..


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    #35
    Graces7
    Registered Users Posts: 32,634 ✭✭✭✭Graces7


    fryup wrote: »
    have you evidence of this ?


    Yes. attack was witnessed.


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    #36
    Graces7
    Registered Users Posts: 32,634 ✭✭✭✭Graces7


    Pretzill wrote: »
    I can only go along with majority here - we have badgers roaming our garden late evening/night - I have trail Cam footage of the badger digging the ground for earthworms and a wily young fox following him rechecking the holes.

    Saw the badger from the window one evening and my dog barked and the badger ran away in seconds.

    I'm really sorry you lost your beloved pet cat Grace and to a badger of all animals

    this year a feral cat has done more damage to our wild birds than any other creature including the hawk - and I'm confident if we still kept fowl it would've had a go - any creature can be predatory if pushed to it - but with wildlife it is in the nature of things imo.

    agree and thank you. I am shocked at the ideas here that badgers can do no wrong.
    I have lived remote among badgers and pine martens for decades and know their nature and the dangers from them.
    No room for sentimentality out here.
    There is only one feral cat here and he is past hunting and yes, in their nature. as in all life.
    Since this thread ( and most of the posts here are blocked thankfully) my own cats have waged war on the island rats with great success. So it balances out One of the rats was the size of a large kitten. That cat sits alongside a rat run now.for many hours a day.
    sadly my hens fell prey to a two legged predator... miss the eggs... maybe in the spring.... Blessings and thanks


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    #37
    Eddie B
    Registered Users Posts: 1,974 ✭✭✭Eddie B


    I done a bit of voluntary work for Birdwatch Ireland a number of years ago, and a badger swam out to one of the Islands on the river Shannon ( breeding wader project). They had to get a parks ranger out to trap it.

    Also remember seeing a program years ago about a Scottish lake, where a Pine Marten used to swim out to an Island to feed on eggs and chicks.

    Amazing the surprises that nature throws up now and then.


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    #38
    gzoladz
    Registered Users Posts: 2,196 ✭✭✭gzoladz


    I am planning to go out looking for one during the Christmas-New Year week. I have made 2 or 3 unsuccessfull attempts this year in Dublin and Connemara, always in locations where they had been recorded, I was shown a sett entrance in advance, etc.

    Time permitting I will try another Dublin location (a famiy recorded on cam ~1 month ago, fairly central), a location in Louth and a "friend of a friend" seems to get one often in his property, so waiting for those details.

    It is surprising the places where they show up!


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    #39
    Pretzill
    Registered Users Posts: 4,683 ✭✭✭Pretzill


    gzoladz wrote: »
    I am planning to go out looking for one during the Christmas-New Year week. I have made 2 or 3 unsuccessfull attempts this year in Dublin and Connemara, always in locations where they had been recorded, I was shown a sett entrance in advance, etc.

    Time permitting I will try another Dublin location (a famiy recorded on cam ~1 month ago, fairly central), a location in Louth and a "friend of a friend" seems to get one often in his property, so waiting for those details.

    It is surprising the places where they show up!

    We have one or two in our garden everynight! You know they've been around because they dig for earthworms and leave divits in the softer parts. I monitored them on trail Cam and pictured them right up near the house as early as 9 in the evening. Love them.


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    #40
    Rows Grower
    Registered Users Posts: 7,822 ✭✭✭Rows Grower


    gzoladz wrote: »
    I am planning to go out looking for one during the Christmas-New Year week. I have made 2 or 3 unsuccessfull attempts this year in Dublin and Connemara, always in locations where they had been recorded, I was shown a sett entrance in advance, etc.

    Time permitting I will try another Dublin location (a famiy recorded on cam ~1 month ago, fairly central), a location in Louth and a "friend of a friend" seems to get one often in his property, so waiting for those details.

    It is surprising the places where they show up!

    What is your plan?

    As in how will you observe them, will you use a light or night vision?

    Do you just want to see them emerge from the sett or are you going to watch/film them as they forage?

    "Very soon we are going to Mars. You wouldn't have been going to Mars if my opponent won, that I can tell you. You wouldn't even be thinking about it."

    Donald Trump, March 13th 2018.



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    #41
    Igotadose
    Registered Users Posts: 12,954 ✭✭✭✭Igotadose


    https://www.badgerwatch.ie/pages/faq.htm

    Seems Ireland have been culling badgers for some time, though by my reading of the FAQ (from a pro-badger site it seems), cattle can give badgers TB, but badgers giving to uninfected cattle hasn't been proven. Not 100% impossible, but only 'proven' in artificial circumstances. Calves were penned in with infected badgers, calves got TB. Eliminating all badgers in Ireland won't eliminate TB of course.

    Apparently there's a TB vaccine for badgers (in a chocolate bait :) but no TB vaccine for cattle. Kind of surprising given that TB and cattle have been under research for so many decades both in Europe and the USA.


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    #42
    gzoladz
    Registered Users Posts: 2,196 ✭✭✭gzoladz


    Rows Grower wrote: »
    What is your plan?

    As in how will you observe them, will you use a light or night vision?

    Do you just want to see them emerge from the sett or are you going to watch/film them as they forage?

    My first goal is to see them, even if in very low light. I have a little night vision camera that may help. When I go owling I use my binocs, that deliver decent low light performance, so that is an option too.

    I'd love to get a picture if there is an opportunity to do so, however as mentioned my priority is to be able to detect them, see them, learn in the process and nedless to say not to cause any disturbance at all.

    In some locations in the country I could actually stay in the car, what would be good for shelter and to avoid getting smelled/seen.

    This is just a hobby for me, so I enjoy the planning, preparation, field work, and if I do see one, that's the icing on the cake!


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    #43
    gzoladz
    Registered Users Posts: 2,196 ✭✭✭gzoladz


    Pretzill wrote: »
    We have one or two in our garden everynight! You know they've been around because they dig for earthworms and leave divits in the softer parts. I monitored them on trail Cam and pictured them right up near the house as early as 9 in the evening. Love them.

    Put the kettle on, I bring the biscuits ;)


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    #44
    Rows Grower
    Registered Users Posts: 7,822 ✭✭✭Rows Grower


    gzoladz wrote: »
    My first goal is to see them, even if in very low light. I have a little night vision camera that may help. When I go owling I use my binocs, that deliver decent low light performance, so that is an option too.

    I'd love to get a picture if there is an opportunity to do so, however as mentioned my priority is to be able to detect them, see them, learn in the process and nedless to say not to cause any disturbance at all.

    In some locations in the country I could actually stay in the car, what would be good for shelter and to avoid getting smelled/seen.

    This is just a hobby for me, so I enjoy the planning, preparation, field work, and if I do see one, that's the icing on the cake!

    If you are ever planning a trip to south Kerry let me know and I can show you some setts minutes walk from my front door that have been active for years.

    Feel free to fire me a pm anytime.

    "Very soon we are going to Mars. You wouldn't have been going to Mars if my opponent won, that I can tell you. You wouldn't even be thinking about it."

    Donald Trump, March 13th 2018.



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    #45
    gzoladz
    Registered Users Posts: 2,196 ✭✭✭gzoladz


    Rows Grower wrote: »
    If you are ever planning a trip to south Kerry let me know and I can show you some setts minutes walk from my front door that have been active for years.

    Feel free to fire me a pm anytime.

    Thanks, that's very generous. Kerry is a place we would love to go back, so we will make it happen at some stage.


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    #46
    recedite
    Closed Accounts Posts: 13,993 ✭✭✭✭recedite


    A badger sniffing around hens is more likely to be after the eggs. If they find an egg, they will keep coming back regularly to collect more.
    I have heard heard of badgers killing and eating broody hens, probably because they would be roosting lower down than most hens, and also the hen would not be inclined to move off the eggs.


    Re TB, IMO there is whole industry that has grown up around TB testing, and like any industry it tries to keep itself ticking over. So it has no interest in actually getting rid of TB.
    Then there is the fact that deer also carry TB, and are very mobile. And deerstalkers are shooting them, gutting them, and leaving the innards in forests, where badgers and foxes will come along later to clean up.


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    #47
    Strawberry1975
    Registered Users Posts: 70 ✭✭Strawberry1975


    Don't forget the Rat's


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    #48
    tabby aspreme
    Registered Users Posts: 3,850 ✭✭✭tabby aspreme


    The boom is back, once upon a time badgers were content with a modest sett entrance, not any more though.


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    #49
    Eddie B
    Registered Users Posts: 1,974 ✭✭✭Eddie B


    tabby aspreme wrote: »
    The boom is back, once upon a time badgers were content with a modest sett entrance, not any more though.

    :confused:


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    #50
    ytpe2r5bxkn0c1
    Closed Accounts Posts: 32,688 ✭✭✭✭ytpe2r5bxkn0c1


    tabby aspreme wrote: »
    The boom is back, once upon a time badgers were content with a modest sett entrance, not any more though.

    Those would be classic/standard sized badger setts. They're by no means particularly large.


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    #51
    peterofthebr
    Registered Users Posts: 306 ✭✭peterofthebr


    hi so setting up a camera i was able to identify its a badger who dug a large hole the side of the hay shed. im in cavan and was going to ring the dept and see what can be done... but think they might only call out if there was a history of tb in the heard possibly? (never had tb)
    - i was thinking of throwing some diesel or something around the hole to deter it..what u think? thanks


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    #52
    Pretzill
    Registered Users Posts: 4,683 ✭✭✭Pretzill


    peterofthebr wrote: »
    hi so setting up a camera i was able to identify its a badger who dug a large hole the side of the hay shed. im in cavan and was going to ring the dept and see what can be done... but think they might only call out if there was a history of tb in the heard possibly? (never had tb)
    - i was thinking of throwing some diesel or something around the hole to deter it..what u think? thanks

    Probably the wrong forum if you're talking about detering wildlife. Also isn't the jury out now on badger being the TB culprit, or are we still on that particular hobby horse?

    Leave him be, would be my answer.


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    #53
    ytpe2r5bxkn0c1
    Closed Accounts Posts: 32,688 ✭✭✭✭ytpe2r5bxkn0c1


    peterofthebr wrote: »
    hi so setting up a camera i was able to identify its a badger who dug a large hole the side of the hay shed. im in cavan and was going to ring the dept and see what can be done... but think they might only call out if there was a history of tb in the heard possibly? (never had tb)
    - i was thinking of throwing some diesel or something around the hole to deter it..what u think? thanks

    I thought farmers were rewarded for environmentally positive actions, not pouring diesel into the ground and deterring wildlife.


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