DARK PACKED MUD & DRAGGED BEDDING... (The latest from the badgers at Temple Balsall...)

 Dark Packed Mud & Dragged Bedding…

Dank, dark and used grassy bedding had been strewn astray,

Dragged from setts like carpets unwanted from a home,

Then abandoned upon the sodden, still hard packed earth 

Like a landslide upon an incline.

An unruly, unlikely July wind’s raucous whine

Accompanied a magpie’s clacking, scavenging mirth,

Before three badgers emerged and tentatively began to roam

And feed upon the dry morsels and grapes I’d been at pains to lay… 

Pete Ray

17th July 2023…

A cool wind, a damp copse, a thieving magpie and three feeding badgers filled a half-hour at Temple Balsall…