Saturday 13 September 2008

The Hill Has Eyes!

Friday 12th September.

No birding done today in case you were wondering. Just a strange episode that happened. As I left home for work and turned to see round the back of my car, there was the sad sight of a freshly knocked over Badger that must have succumbed during the night. I didn't have time to do anything with it now, but I thought I would move and bury it somewhere when I got back in the evening.

After an afternoon of go karting provided by work (at Midland Karting near Lichfield by the way, great fun!), I remembered my Badger burying duty before heading to Alton in the evening. However, when I arrived home it was nowhere to be seen.

I've noticed this fairly regularly. If I see a knocked over animal on the way to work, by the time I'm coming back home it's nowhere to be seen. What's going on? I think it's safe to assume they haven't come back to life. The council don't clear roadkill do they?

My only other explanation is that someone has taken it for the pot. Which reminds me of a fantastic programme that was on BBC2 at the start of this year, The Man Who Eats Badgers. Which featured the exploits of Arthur Boyt, who collected roadkill around the roads of Bodmin Moor. I wasn't happy about Barn Owl, or indeed most of the contents of his freezer, as you can see in the above Youtube link. Apparently he used to lead the Watford RSPB group. No answer to that.


Saturday 13th September, Big Birdforum Berry Hill Bash, 8:00 - 11:40.

A cracking morning's birding at the mighty Berry Hill Fields in Stoke, arranged and agreed by various local members of Bird Forum. What's more it was a lovely sunny day!

Not a bad selection of stuff actually, although no-one could match the recent highs of Lapland Bunting and Hoopoe. Highlights included 4 Whinchat, 2 Stonechat, 1 Redstart, 2 Wheatear, 2 Willow Tit.

No comments: