Badgers on the line

Opened the bedroom window this morning and lay back and listened to the "Dawn Chorus" while drinking a cup of tea, can there be a better way to wake up? Don't think it was appreciated by the other half, bit cold apparently, shut that window.

So even though it was only 7am and frosty, we decided to pop over to Sturminster Newton to walk the newly opened Trailway to Fiddleford Bridge. This is being opened section by section by Dorset Council, and follows the old Somerset and Dorset railway line, closed in 1967. We've been meaning to do this for ages and wish I'd done this before, as the birdlife was amazing, nothing rare, just an awful lot of, Wren, Dunnock, Gt and Blue Tit, Robin, Blackbird, Fieldfare, Redwing, Carrion Crow, Jackdaw, 3 Buzzards, 2 Treecreepers and a Gt Spotted Woodpecker drumming in the woods on the hill. At the sewerage works good numbers of Pied and a couple of Grey Wagtails, and walking back 2 Skylarks singing.

But this weekend is fast becoming Badger weekend. Last night driving down, I had a fabulous view of one as it scuttled ahead of me in a very narrow lane near Wincanton. I slowed to a crawl, but as it had no where to go, the headlights gave me a perfect ring-side-rear-view of a speeding badger for about a minute before it headed under a gate. Later in the evening Andrew Cooper's Natural World programme was on Badgers. Over the last 6 month or so I've been hearing from Andrew of the exploits of these Badgers so seeing the finished article was eagerly anticipated, and well worth the wait. The interior sett shots were stunning and revealed behaviour never seen before in a sett.

But today, we do things differently in Dorset. As the badgers dig, we put up roadblocks apparently?!?! At the far end of the Trailway was a sign stating "be careful active Badger Sett". The badgers are digging up the compacted hardcore and causing much damage to the surface so they're now "protected". Or are we the one's being protected?