Over the 36 years we have lived at our Staffordshire home we have deliberately transformed our four acres to attract wildlife, but it taken on a rather interesting new twist.
Until a couple of years ago we had three active badger setts but for some strange reason they have all up sticks and moved elsewhere. A dog and vixen have taken over vacant possession of the largest sett and are rapidly transforming it into a den for two or three or more. We are hoping we shall see cubs in the spring.
Since we have been living here, I have always maintained two pheasant feeders and we have a couple of dozen birds that spend most of their days with us gobbling up the corn I spread each morning and eating the pellets from the two feeders.
When feeding, they are usually quite well mannered with each other. Last autumn a very sad sight appeared. A tatty cock with spurs on his legs showing he was at least a year old showed up. He waited until the coast was clear before moving in to hoover up any remaining corn. Mrs GG would go out and throw him a couple of extra handfuls of corn. In no time at all he would wait outside the kitchen window looking up longingly to see if she was there. Soon, he hardly ran off as she came out. Then he disappeared and I feared the worst.
Lo and behold he was back again towards the end of September and up to his old tricks. He now has another set of spurs and looks as fit as a butcher’s dog. Talking of which, I fear the dog fox has discovered the imbalance of one of the feeders. It is quite heavy when full but several times I’ve found it on its side! It is getting a tad expensive to feed pheasant and foxes.
What, however, is most amusing is that the birds congregate in various areas and several times I have watched the dog and the vixen stroll up the grass towards their new home. Although they are within ten to fifteen feet of them, the hen pheasant take hardly any notice and simply carry on feeding and preening. The cocks, however, rapidly leg it to another area away from the foxy couple. It is a strange world!
Happy Gardening!
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