Chairman’s Chat
All the snow we had last year is just a memory now and I’m looking forward eagerly to Spring arriving soon. There are some signs already as I’ve got three small clumps of frogspawn in one of my ponds but they may not survive because we’re still likely to have more frosts.
I’m getting an increasing number of phone calls from members of the public asking for advice over badgers damaging their lawns. That’s another sign that Spring is not far off as the ground has warmed up enough to allow Cockchafer and Leatherjacket grubs to become active.
A man from Crewe phoned a couple of weeks ago to report that he had a badger he thought was making a sett in his garden shed and he didn’t want it. Could I tell him how to get rid of it please?
I asked when he had first become aware of its presence and he told me that it had smashed a hole in his garden fence in the middle of the night and was now curled up in the corner of the shed. I thought that it was likely that the badger had been fighting with a more aggressive badger and having lost the fight had made his hurried escape and in panic had arrived in his garden. My advice was to leave the hole unrepaired and to make sure the shed door was open that night and with any luck the badger would leave when it was ready. I asked him to phone me the next morning if it was still there and I would come out to have a look and come up with Plan B. It had gone by next morning luckily.
This problem occurs occasionally at this time of the year and is to do with the badgers hierarchy system. The dominant male pushes the subordinate males out when the cubs are born and sometimes they get beaten up quite badly in the process.
I’ve had badgers turn up in under bushes and in sheds, garages and one was found in a coal bunker. That man was very surprised when he went to get some coal for the fire!
I would like to invite you to come to our AGM this year so that you can meet the Committee members and I hope that perhaps you might like to get more involved with the group.
The AGM will be on Friday the 27th of May and is at the Community Centre in Fluin Lane, Frodsham. For those with Satnavs the Post Code is WA6 7QN. The meeting is quite informal and starts at 8pm. Please come along.
Mike Taylor (March 2011)