About this episode:
Britain and its rural communities have been obsessed with Badgers for centuries. Sometimes cast as hero, sometimes as villain, tales of Badger behaviour can be found woven into the fabric of our nation’s folk stories. They have since been immortalised in literature by the likes of Beatrix Potter and Kenneth Grahame. Their prominence in rural life continues into our modern Britain; where Badgers were traditionally used for baiting, meat, shaving brushes and even Victorian tie-pins, they now find themselves in the crosshairs of an ongoing cull. But are Badgers the villain of this new tale – persecuting farmers trying to make ends meet within our complicated food chain – or are they the unfortunate scapegoat in a politically-motivated act of extreme animal cruelty? David meets up with Dr Hannah Trayford, the Badger Trust Campaigns and Research Manager, and award-winning photographer Rachel Bigsby, the Badger Trust Youth Ambassador, to understand a little more about the realities of the ongoing cull, and the (lack of) science backing it up. Is it justifiable to cull 50% of the national Badger population, when it is 800 times more likely for cattle to spread Bovine Tuberculosis to Badgers, than the other way around? And if that all sounds too dour, then fear not, for the first 20 minutes of this podcast is actually about Orang-utans and the joy of photographing sea birds!
David's thoughts:
Our conversation was relaxed, informative and very enjoyable. We were even joined by a curious deer who wanted to hear what we were discussing (sadly she failed to make the edit – apologies to the doe!) But there were two factors that made this meeting of three especially magical.
The first: As the sun started to set, we were joined, by my reckoning, by 7 or 8 badgers. One lactating sow, a number of young “badgerlings”, and couple of grumpy and very hungry teenagers. If my photos were any good I’d be sharing them here, but I think it’s far better to let the professional speak for herself. The photos below are badgers from the same sett we sat by, all photographed by Rachel, although not on this particular occasion. She very sensibly chose just to sit back and revel in the #MustelidMoment.
The second: As well as the deer and the badgers, there was actually another silent witness to the afternoon and evening’s happenings. Hannah’s daughter endured our recording with the hope, when we had finished, that she would be given her first sighting of a real live badger. The evening did not dissappoint. Any encounter with wildlife is magical, a badger (and I may be biased here) doubly so – for me it’s the sitting out at dusk, light-levels sinking, temperatures teetering, the world changing to embrace the presence of the celtic shapeshifter. But to see and feel all that through a child’s eyes; and her first badger at that… well…
…she was entranced. We watched in near silence for over an hour.
Gobsmacked.
Over to Rachel:
LINKS:
The Badger Trust – https://www.badgertrust.org.uk/
“State of the Badger” surveys – https://www.badgertrust.org.uk/state-of-the-badger
Rachel Bigsby – https://www.rachelbigsby.com/
Rachel’s award-winning “The Art of Courtship” – https://www.nhm.ac.uk/wpy/gallery/2023-the-art-of-courtship
The Trimates – https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/The_Trimates
Japanese Badgers – https://traditionalkyoto.com/culture/figures/badgers/
