The Mystery Is Solved

Since moving into this house 21 months ago, I have been aware that we have a regular nocturnal visitor.  Down the side the house is open access so getting into the garden is easy but what puzzled me was the appearance of holes in the ground to get access past the rear fence to the adjacent garden of the next street.



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I had considered mischevious children but surely not most nights throughout the year whatever the weather!  Then I thought it must be the neighbourhood feline population.  I tried blocking up the gaps, nailing extra wood to the fence and blocking with large stones, only to find the next morning that my hard efforts had been dismantled.  I realised that this was not the work of a household pet.  So I ruled out the cats.

My next suspect was an urban fox.  Again, I kept blocking up the gaps and the same thing happened.  It seemed that nothing worked.  I few days ago, I tried again, sure that this time nothing could shift my efforts.  BUT ... you guessed it - another gap was apparent and this time the fence was so bent it almost broke.  What could have such strength?  Whatever it was, it wouldn't be deterred, so I gave in and left a big gap accepting that it was better than having to mend the fence all the time.



What strength to remove part of the fence!


Over the past few days, I have noticed holes dug in other parts of the garden.  The mystery deepened.  What is going on?  I looked through a book we have about animals and looked in the section of wild animals that have recently become urbanised.  I read it, looking for clues.

Last night I awoke, looked at the clock and it said 3:01.  I then saw the rear security light go on - my bedroom window faces out onto the back garden.  I went to the window and there it was.  With my own eyes I saw the culprit.  It was a 2'-3' long badger just going round the shed to the edge near the fence that was hidden from my view.  This morning when I went to have a look, this is what I saw.  Gotcha!  Mystery solved.

The Badger Effect 1



The Badger Effect 2


I know we share the planet with a variety of creatures.  We share our garden with a number of birds (and yes, the blackcap now visits every day - see The Unexpected posted Feb 1st 2011) and the neighbourhood cats but I must admit I didn't expect to have to share it with a badger!