THE HOBBLING BADGER, THE COOKED CHIP, THE SCUFFLING WOOD MOUSE & THE FOILED ESCAPEE... (Words about the badgers at Temple Balsall...)

 The Hobbling Badger, The Cooked Chip, The Scuffling Wood Mouse & The Foiled Escapee…

There was certainly a chill in the late May

Daylight, as the enclosed copse’s breezy feel

Baulked the fiery amber of a slowly setting sun.

Lingering dead leaves shifted and shuffled

As a shadowy mouse rapidly scuttled

Near the perimeter of the wood, astray,

Then stole inside a hole behind my heel.

And soon a badger emerged along a well trodden run…

It hobbled, its limp considerable and it suddenly sniffed

At a cooked oven-chip, from M & S, don’t you know,  

Then struggled gamely on, picking up food scattered

About, joined by another adult for a frenzy of foraging.  

And from a small hole nearby a cub, emerging,

 Gazed about, dazed like a wartime prisoner, miffed

That his patiently dug tunnel had fallen short. And his woe

Showed, for his escape from tyranny had been shattered…

Pete Ray

30th May 2023

It was rather cold in the copse, despite a dramatic, orange sunset.

A wood mouse rushed about amongst brown, crispy leaves, a limping badger fed but seemed startled by a left-over M & S oven chip, before gobbling it. 

Eventually a young badger looked out of a smaller hole, seemed uncertain of its whereabouts and quickly ducked down again…