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Annual General Meeting (AGM) Report 2005
16th April 2005
The "Slideshow"
 After an excellent hotpot/cheesebake supper, this
year's meeting, (16th April 2005 at Broughton Village Hall) was followed by a wonderful presentation
by James Bunyon from the Conservation Research Unit
at Oxford University. Called "Tunnel Visions", this described
ground-breaking new research methods developed in collaboration with
the BBC, which represent an advancement of techniques for studying the
activities of underground species.
Wytham Woods, outside Oxford, is an SSSI of 425 hectares where the
badger population, at 38 per square kilometre the densest known in
England, has been studied since the seventies.
The location of the sleeping chambers of one sett was ascertained in
advance by pinpointing the resting-places of previously radio-collared
individuals, and fibre-optic cameras were then inserted directly into
selected spots within the sett through drain-pipes put down
specially-augured holes. The resulting fascinating videos from the four
infra-red cameras showed a mother badger nursing her cubs and general
social interactions between the badgers in the sett. It was startling
to find wood-mice, long known to often make their own tunnels just
within the entrance of a badger sett, venturing up to four metres
inside the tunnels. This represents astonishing boldness, considering
that a badger would happily make a meal of a handy mouse: the foraging
potential of the tunnels must be high enough for the mice to risk it.
Some of the activities observed contradict previously-held beliefs as
to the behaviour of badgers when in the sett, and monitoring of
temperature levels within the sett proved for the first time that these
remain notably constant, despite wide fluctuation in the day and night
time temperatures outside. The findings will form the basis of valuable
new documentation on the badger and its environment.
The Meeting
Financially the Group has
had a successful year, with the laptop computer and other equipment
purchased last year having been found to be most useful. The slideshows
and computer-based presentations are proving themselves: it is
frequently found that, having enjoyed such a talk, local people will
come forward with news of badger populations in their
area which they have previously been reluctant to talk about in order
to protect the badgers. Where these setts have been unknown to the
Group this knowledge enables us to add them to our database to enable
on-going monitoring and rapid location of the site if an incident
should be reported.The NFBG is to undergo a change of status from Charity to Charitable
Company. Local badger Groups were consulted on this change, which has
been approved in order to protect the trustees of the charity; they
will instead become "directors" of the new Charitable Company.
Five Members attended the NFBG Conference last year, ably hosted in
Giggleswick by the Craven Badger Group, despite their only having eight
members! This year the Conference will be at Millfield School in
Somerset, 15th to 17th June. Members wanting to attend as
representatives of the Group may apply to the committee via the
Badgerline for partial funding.
Any offers of help with the newsletter or hide visits will be
gratefully received. Members are reminded that visits to the Group's
ever-popular hide must be booked in advance via the badgerline. This
year repairs will be needed to the access footbridge at the site, and
volunteer helpers will be most welcome.
A new book, "Wildlife of Lancashire", has been published by the
Lancashire Wildlife Trust, covering everything from lichens and mosses
to whales and dophins (and of course including badgers!)
A copy was presented to Clive Walsh, a founder member of the Group
whose tireless work presenting slideshows among other things has so
greatly benefited the badgers of Lancashire. Another was
presented to Dale Pollard, a dedicated member whose hard work in the
conception, creation and marketing of the book for the
Wild Valley Project
resulted in a £1,500 boost to the Group's funds.
The Group continues to monitor Planning Permissions in order to ensure
that sites are surveyed for the presence of badger populations where
necessary. This is very
useful in avoiding disturbance to badgers when a site is to be
developed.
The Group's good relationship with the Forestry Commission also
continues, with surveys carried out for them resulting in installation
of badger gates and so forth where necessary.
Badger News
Regular phone calls are
received from the public and the police when road traffic accident
(RTA) badgers are found. Last year there were about 30
reported, this year there were 34. These, of course, are only the ones
we know about and it is assumed the real figure is higher. One
"hotspot" seems
to be a few hundred metres of dual carriageway in Edenfield, and it is
intended to contact the County Council to see if measures such as a
badger tunnel beneath
the road can be implemented. Another is the A59 where a high incidence
of badger deaths on the busy road is actually indicative of an increase
in the number of
badger setts being created locally - it can be seen from this that RTAs
can sometimes give useful indications of this sort regarding badger
population in a area.Representatives of the Group attended a DEFRA briefing consultation
on TB in Kendal.
Bovine TB is still present in SW England, parts of Wales and the
Midlands: but Lancashire, its cattle and its badgers, is still free of
this disease. An outbreak of TB in some cattle in neighbouring Cumbria
was traced to the transport of affected cattle, and the local badger
population proved to be uninfected. In March a report came out
recommending the problem be tackled primarily by testing of cattle and
improved husbandry measures, but unfortunately it did not rule out
culling badgers as well. The Experimental cull finishes in August with
a final report to see if it worked to follow, i.e. its usefulness as a means of
reducing bovine TB in cattle has not yet been established in the UK.
The Republic of Ireland has carried out large-scale culling over the
last five to six years which is reported to have worked, but they
concluded that it is not a viable option for long-term control,
recommending instead that the use of a vaccine is the way to go.
The hunting ban has raised an interesting issue. Fox hunts used to
be able to stop up badger setts to prevent foxes going to earth during
a hunt, and this will not now be permissible. However, apparently if
there is a dog trapped underground during legal hunting they
are permitted
to dig it out, and the wording of this section of the Law does not
specify whether this is still allowed in the case of a badger sett. It
is not clear whether the rules on protection of badgers will cover such
a situation; a test case may be needed before the position can be
satisfactorily clarified, and the matter is being pursued.
 Incidents this year
- 10 people were
arrested at Bracewell near Barnoldswick putting dogs into badger setts.
The Group will be involved in the case, which comes to court next month.
- A house in Bacup was raided on RSPCA intelligence, three people were arrested and incriminating evidence removed.
- A lady in Waterfoot rang the group to complain of damage to the
lawns of some sheltered housing. The badgers had been digging after
leatherjackets in the turf, and it was explained that once the
remaining grubs had hatched the badgers would move on and search for
food elsewhere. There is no proprietary badger-repellent liquid which
could be applied to the lawn in the meantime, but human urine is know
to repel badgers. It was
carefully explained to the elderly lady that if this was to be used it
should be applied to the lawn with a watering-can, and not direct!
- At Weir, a badger was found trapped in a drain. Attempts to reach
it and pull it from the manhole were foiled by the badger retreating
down the drain. It was eventually freed by local people making a
makeshift ladder and leaving it propped down the hole overnight. The
next day the badger had gone, and muddy footprints showed that it had
made use of the ladder to escape.
- In Huncoat, foul play is suspected to be involved in the appearance
of dead badgers found badly damaged in a canal. Unfortunately, nothing
more is known.
- As reported last year, contractors at the Burnley Youth Theatre
were given a licence to exclude the badgers from a sett they had made
under the club's wooden hut, which was to be demolished. Vigorous club
gatherings held in the hut had not appeared to disturb the badgers, and
some difficulty was experienced in deterring them from getting back
into the sett. Eventually, however, they made another home nearby but
the contractor did not realize they were there and whilst moving some
piles of earth from one side of the site to the other an entrance was
inadvertently partially covered. On discovering this the very
pro-badger contractor immediately rectified this and put warning tapes
round the sett to prevent further disturbance.
- In Whitworth a badger was reported sleeping in an empty kennel. She
was found to be old but in good health, so was taken and released near
to the nearby sett, which she entered. Two days later she was back
sleeping in the kennel: it is thought she may have been experiencing
minor harassment in the sett and was just looking for some peace and
quiet. She was again returned to the sett, but a neighbour volunteered
the use of an unused outbuilding, which was prepared for the badger.
After making use of the facility thus provided for a few days the
badger later went away again.
- A "dodgy van" was reported in Ramsbottom, in which police found
dogs and spades. This prompted a search, and sure enough a badger sett
previously unknown to the Group was found nearby. This incident
resulted in a new Member for the Group, who now has badgers regularly
visiting their garden.
- Entrances to badger setts in Townley park were reportedly being
filled in by someone: this turned out to be a local livestock owner who
claimed badgers were taking his lambs. The holes were re-opened but
there was no evidence that resident badgers were present. Experts agree
that the largest live prey badgers are able to take are rabbits: in
some parts of Europe baby rabbits make up the majority of the badger's
diet, and groups of badgers are known to "stake out" rabbit warrens,
waiting for the adult rabbits to leave and then moving in to dig out
the youngsters (in fact in Britain ninety-odd percent of their diet is
earthworms, but of course badgers are great opportunists and will
readily eat carrion such as dead lambs or afterbirth.) Nevertheless,
the incident at Towneley Hall was a very serious offence even if
committed out of ignorance, and the police were involved. In the event
the Group's Chairman had to take the officer concerned step-by-step
through the relevant legislation and the questions which he should be
asking because he had had no training in that area of the Law. It was
reported last year that the Lancashire Police were scrapping the post
of Wildlife Officer: however, the Group is pleased to see the post is
now being re-advertised. This case underlines the need for and value of
a dedicated post of Wildlife Officer who can specialize in dealing with
cases of this sort and liaise with lay specialists on an equal footing,
and the Group has hopes of rebuilding this valuable partnership in due
course.
- A serious badger-digging incident took place very recently at
Rishton, Great Harwood, with all the hallmarks of a professional dig.
Tragically, suspicious characters were seen at the site four days
before the sett was dug, yet the witnesses, who knew the seriousness of
what they had seen, did not bother to report this until after the
damage had been done. This sett would lend itself well to being capped
to protect it in future and this is expected to be put in train in due
course.
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