Wednesday, 11 June 2025

HEEDFUL TEMPLE BALSALL BADGERS... (My new poem about the badgers at Temple Balsall, Warwickshire...)

 




Heedful Temple Balsall Badgers…


There were no appearances of meaty mammals

Nervelessly leaving well hidden setts, nor was there familiarity,

Or grooming, or rollicking and play-fighting, or an aura of comfort,

Or confidence, or a languid clan amiability… 


There were cautious, slimmer badgers, heedful mammals

Nervously spilling from random holes and there was a proclivity

To sidle, to forage alone and emit an aura of ignorant discomfort,

To be timid and to skulk fearfully with solitary antipathy…


Pete Ray

10th June 2025…


Watching the current BBC Springwatch programme and the featured badgers at Longshaw in the Peak District, the mammals’ behaviour there has precious little in common with that of the badgers at Temple Balsall in Warwickshire.


Certainly, Longshaw is a vast area, whereas Temple Balsall’s badgers reside in a copse next to a lane, which carries vehicles regularly, whilst a flight path towards Birmingham airport is directly overhead and there is sheep farming, plus a natural cemetery close by too.


The leaner badgers emerge sullenly and forage alone, rarely bothering with other clan members.  


Fascinating…













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