Forum home Problem solving
This Forum will close on Wednesday 27 March, 2024. Please refer to the announcement on the Discussions page for further detail.

Badger in garden

13

Posts

  • TopbirdTopbird Posts: 8,355
    The electric fence idea was only me thinking out loud @sachks17 😉  

    I realise it wouldn't be what most people would want but knowing how many holes there are in my hedges and other garden 'defences'  it's something I personally would give some thought to if I needed to.
    Heaven is ... sitting in the garden with a G&T and a cat while watching the sun go down
  • bédébédé Posts: 3,095
    I know how Monty Don would answer, though he has a much bigger garden.

     location: Surrey Hills, England, ex-woodland acidic sand.
    "Have nothing in your garden that you don't know to be useful, or believe to be beautiful."
  • bédébédé Posts: 3,095
    Voss, does you electronic repeller really differentiate between cats and badgers.  I would like to deter cats, but rather like the idea of a badger, though I have never seen one in my garden.
     location: Surrey Hills, England, ex-woodland acidic sand.
    "Have nothing in your garden that you don't know to be useful, or believe to be beautiful."
  • ErgatesErgates Posts: 2,953
    Don’t all laugh at once! We bought our house 16 years ago from a couple of animal lovers who fed badgers every night. We have taken over the habit, and I put out a small chopped up peanut butter sandwich ( on wholemeal bread!) at dark every night. We can watch the badgers on our cctv. One, or occasionally two, turn up, eat their supper and leave. They never touch the lawn, although I’d hardly describe it as a lawn, grass probably sums it up better. We still get round holes where the squirrels bury stuff, but never the rotavator type gouges that friends have described.
  • bédébédé Posts: 3,095
    Ergates quote:   "I’d hardly describe it as a lawn, grass probably sums it up better"

    Lawn 1 |lɔːn| noun.   an area of short, regularly mown ...  Probably more other things than "grass".  Lawn may suit it better.
     location: Surrey Hills, England, ex-woodland acidic sand.
    "Have nothing in your garden that you don't know to be useful, or believe to be beautiful."
  • FairygirlFairygirl Posts: 55,117
    I expect you're mitigating the damage by feeding them  @Ergates :)

    Hope you don't run out of peanut butter and bread though...  ;)
    It's a place where beautiful isn't enough of a word....



    I live in west central Scotland - not where that photo is...
  • WoodgreenWoodgreen Posts: 1,273
    Fairygirl said:
    I expect you're mitigating the damage by feeding them  @Ergates :)

    Hope you don't run out of peanut butter and bread though...  ;)
    If they ever decide that what lies beneath is more suited to them than sandwiches, the damage may start.

    But I guess as with a lot of humans, fast food is irresistible. But I do wonder about long term consequences.....






  • DovefromaboveDovefromabove Posts: 88,147
    Woodgreen said:
    Fairygirl said:
    I expect you're mitigating the damage by feeding them  @Ergates :)

    Hope you don't run out of peanut butter and bread though...  ;)
    .... But I do wonder about long term consequences.....






    Didn't do Elvis a lot of good 🤔

    Gardening in Central Norfolk on improved gritty moraine over chalk ... free-draining.





  • ErgatesErgates Posts: 2,953
    Long term consequences? For the garden or the badgers? We seemed to have lived in harmony with them since 2004. 
    I did check with the local council Wildlife Ranger, and he was happy with the food we were offering. It is sugar free peanut butter, and wholemeal bread, and I get the cheapest own brand versions! Yes it does cost a few pence per day, but we do get a lot of enjoyment out of the wildlife. The badgers and foxes do virtually no damage, unlike the squirrels, rabbits and deer, but we have a big garden and I’m sure their ancestors were here before us. There is no way we could keep them out anyway, hundreds of yards of laurel hedge boundaries and at least two local, well established setts. Our neighbour says she can see the steam rising from one of the exits on cold days!
    I can appreciate it’s a different issue if you have a smaller patch, and less room to share. 
  • WoodgreenWoodgreen Posts: 1,273
    Yes, I agree there's a world of difference between watching wildlife in a very large rural garden where damage is minimal and hopefully the animals don't become reliant on artificially obtained food.

    I do wonder sometimes though about coercing wild animals into urban environments, leading to changes in their diet and behaviour, as well as problems for the people who live there.

    But change is always with us I suppose.







Sign In or Register to comment.