NATURE

East Meon Nature Group

Nature Group Email https://eastmeonnature.com/

Do Badgers Read Meon Matters?

A personal view on a thorny issue

A recent issue featured the Nature Group campaign to make the village hedgehog friendly, with Charlie and Monty’s hog house for hedgehog ‘Spike’ on the front cover. Sadly nature showed it is indeed ‘red in tooth and claw’ when a badger raided village gardens and at least one of Spike’s brethren was killed – and eaten. So how do we feel about one of the icons of conservation – badgers – inconvenient habit of attacking another – the hedgehog? And how and why to we humans attach such significance to some species, and not others. Why do we make hedgehog pathways but not rat runs? Is the badger a wise old brock or (literally) a bloody nuisance?

Other than with cattle farmers, fans of ground nesting birds, and bumble bee lovers (badgers love eggs and bee grubs) the badger certainly has a good press. The Wind in the Willows image of ‘wise old badger’ helps. They are private and social and anyone who has watched badgers will know how charming their behaviour can seem. They live in social groups of 3 -8, eat mostly grubs and worms, and keep their homes clean. Some people feed them, and watching them tuck into the peanut butter sandwiches one such host provided a few years ago was a treat for me. Did you know that in family disputes the dominant male uses his backside to assert control? Or that a female badger can carry cubs from several fathers in one litter? Or that they are one of the truly ancient UK species.

Though the links between the data are uncertain at best, hedgehogs are not thriving but badgers are very much on the rise. Badgers were made a protected species in 1973, in response to limited population (estimated at 12,000 then) and instances of badger baiting and related cruelty. The current population (2018) estimate is 485,000, with over 3 badgers per square kilometre in England and Wales.

Bereleigh had 6 setts on its initial (then smaller) acreage in 1957. A survey 10 years ago of the same area found 300 badger setts. Repeat 300. That is an increase of 5000%. On my first visit to East Meon my host in Oxenbourne was unable to serve eggs as the badgers had raided and killed her hens. East Meon is badger central, as Spike and his cousins know to their cost.

The coincidence of bovine and badger tuberculosis has identified badgers as a threat to livestock and Subsequent control measures included gassing of badger setts. The public battle between angry farmers who face culling their cows and those who feel repelled by badger culling has run for year, with the ministry and politicians and any science caught in the cross winds of fierce emotion. Gassing is seen as unacceptable (for emotional reasons), but killing cows is seen as acceptable. The badger culling by shooting trial results suggest resulting dispersal of survivors may spread TB rather than reduce it. And the pro badger political environment makes it very hard for government and the ministry to act. Presumably rats (who are also smart, social and nocturnal) look on with envy.

What may start changing public perception is the gardening community. Badgers significantly damage gardens as they root about for food, and with the population spiralling more and more suburban gardeners see badgers as a pest. My mother has a large suburban garden. When some badgers moved in to the wilder end 10 years ago this seemed rather charming. The digging of a large sett – and the depositing of huge piles of spoil – the destruction of the main lawn, then the addition of new setts closer to the house rather changed our views. Doing the right thing, we consulted the rule book, which says you need a licence to disturb them. The house labrador had clearly read and was happy to comply with this;- chasing foxes yes, chasing badgers – no thank you.

To get a licence you need a trained ecologist survey, a written application certified by them, to pay a large fee, to have the trained ecologist to supervise the installation of badger gates on some setts, inspection of the gates to ensure the sett is empty, and supervision of the sett destruction. But in our case we could only destroy the sett nearest the house. We were told the garden is ‘suitable for badgers’ and we must co-exist. And charged £2500 plus for the exercise at £500 a day.

We each have a view on how man and nature interact and need to listen to and respect each others opinions. Encouraging awareness of our surrounding and diversity of flora and fauna is common ground. We manage nearly all aspects of our environment is also a fact. The badgers have no predator, and now than man has decided to take himself off population control responsibility you may wonder where we will end up.

Andrew Hughes

Wildflower walks with Helen Boyce at Noar Hill.

If you are interested in learning more about wild flowers, what better way than being shown them by an expert – and an enthusiast! Helen charges £15 per head and prefers small numbers of 2 or 3 for a morning or an afternoon during June. Noar Hill is south of Selborne and 20 minutes away from East Meon. No dogs at present, given ticks and ground nesting birds.

For more information email: harlequinladybird19@gmail.com

Nature Group Presentation at Parish Council

Great video explaning Nature Group. See https://eastmeonnature.com/east-meon-nature-video-presentation/

Sad end for Tawny Owl

Spotted on the Bereleigh Road Monday, Nick Reed‑Beale, Reserves Manager Central Hampshire, Hampshire & Isle of Wight Wildlife Trust said “I am afraid this is much more common occurrence that you might think, thousands of owls are killed this way each year. There is little that can be done as the owls are often flying or feeding around the road margins and fly when spooked by the car and then hit.”

If we all drove a bit slower, especially at dusk, we would give ourselves the owls, badgers, deer and other wildlife a better chance of avoiding each other.

Nature Group Email https://eastmeonnature.com/

Helping Hedgehogs in East Meon.

As the cold winter approaches many of us consider sheltering from the bitter conditions. Few residents in East Meon though sleep all winter to avoid the freezing temperatures. However, there is one group of small, spiny and spiky near neighbours that do just that. They are, of course, humble hedgehogs.

Sadly our prickly friends are facing a number of new threats. These challenges have led to a steep decline in the size of the hedgehog population both locally and nationally. In the 1950s it was estimated there were 36.5 million hedgehogs in Britain. Shockingly today it is estimated around half a million survive. But what is it that is driving them towards extinction?

Unfortunately threats to hedgehogs come mostly from us. In rural areas our gardens and farmland increasingly lack the diversity of habitats hedgehogs need. However there are small ways which we can help these curious critters.

One East Meon resident, Debbie Evans, is leading the way in helping our parish hedgehogs. She explained to me the importance of creating small holes at the base of our garden fences to allow the mini mammals to travel. Debbie told me that “Hedgehogs can roam for about 2km in one evening”. Creating ‘hedgehog highways’ is a small way we can help to ensure that the cute creatures can access vital resources to help them survive.

Hedgehogs are also very prone to road accidents. Debbie told me that recently she has seen “three squashed on the roads around East Meon”. For Debbie this is particularly sad to see. Occasionally she re-homes hedgehogs from a local hedgehog hospital and wonders if it might be one of her adopted hogs.

Debbie has worked with the designer of hedgehog feeding stations to build a hedgehog ‘des res’. Here they can find food and water.

Despite a declining population, hedgehogs are highly popular among the British public. In a survey two years ago, more than two in every five Britons picked them as the animals that best represent the country. Whats more, the gardeners of our country are continually thankful for their help with pests.

Debbie is interested to know whether villagers would be willing to help her create a map that plots all hedgehog sightings in East Meon. The hope is this will give us more information on our native population. Debbie told me that, “by plotting our hedgehogs’ whereabouts it might show that we have more then anyone knew”. If anyone has any ideas about how the locations could be mapped electronically, Debbie would love to hear from you.

In researching this article I was amazed to discover that our spiny friends had already been on Earth for 8 million years before humankind existed. 7 million years later, and over the course of just one generation, this ancient species has seen a rapid demise. If we don’t act soon the 15 million year old hedgehogs could disappear forever.

Anyone who is interested in helping our village hedgehogs should email Debbie at bluegrassdobs@btinternet.com

Charlie Gaisford

Recent Sightings

Water voles were active in the Meon during the Beacon celebrations.

Hedgehogs visiting houses on the Green Sunday 11th.

Large hawk, harrier size, mottled black and white markings, not a buzzard, Bereleigh road. Ideas?

Hare (leveret), Colchena, Bereleigh road. (excuse mobile phone quality)

Please send sightings to meonmatters@gmail.com

Photos

Who can identify this?

Meon Matters welcomes nature photos