Finally, with the aid of £150 worth of metal poles, chain-link
fencing, concrete and kerb-stones I seem to have successfully excluded
that badger from the garden. At least there's been no sign of him for
a week (I spread some sand on the "outside" of my newly-constructed 8
foot long by 6 foot tall barrier and there are no badger footprints
in it though I seem to have possibly 2 foxes around).

Only trouble was that the blighter managed to totally destroy about 25
square feet of lawn every night he got in. I have about a square yard
in the middle left, the rest is wrecked. Galling in that I've spent
the last few years refurbishing that lawn, biting off about a third
each spring, and was looking forward to it looking as I wanted this
year. Now it all needs to be done again.

He also dug down a fair bit in the gravel paths but, for some reason,
totally ignored a freshly cleared and dug border that he had to walk
over to get in and out of the garden.

C'est la vie.

Cheers, Jake
=======================================
Urgling from the East end of Swansea Bay where it got
dark today an hour earlier than a week ago!

On 2013-04-03 20:50:04 +0100, The Original Jake said:

Finally, with the aid of £150 worth of metal poles, chain-link
fencing, concrete and kerb-stones I seem to have successfully excluded
that badger from the garden. At least there's been no sign of him for
a week (I spread some sand on the "outside" of my newly-constructed 8
foot long by 6 foot tall barrier and there are no badger footprints
in it though I seem to have possibly 2 foxes around).

Only trouble was that the blighter managed to totally destroy about 25
square feet of lawn every night he got in. I have about a square yard
in the middle left, the rest is wrecked. Galling in that I've spent
the last few years refurbishing that lawn, biting off about a third
each spring, and was looking forward to it looking as I wanted this
year. Now it all needs to be done again.

He also dug down a fair bit in the gravel paths but, for some reason,
totally ignored a freshly cleared and dug border that he had to walk
over to get in and out of the garden.

C'est la vie.

Cheers, Jake
=======================================
Urgling from the East end of Swansea Bay where it got
dark today an hour earlier than a week ago!

Um. I don't know what to say! We've had one (maybe more, don't know)
get in here and scrape a few holes in some grass but nothing like the
war zone you describe. We have literally a few shallow holes. It's
probably not a lot of consolation to say you must have very healthy
soil with loads of worms... Poor you! I'm so sorry!
--

Sacha
www.hillhousenursery.com
South Devon
www.helpforheroes.org.uk

Sacha wrote:

On 2013-04-03 20:50:04 +0100, The Original Jake said:

Finally, with the aid of £150 worth of metal poles, chain-link
fencing, concrete and kerb-stones I seem to have successfully excluded
that badger from the garden. At least there's been no sign of him for
a week (I spread some sand on the "outside" of my newly-constructed 8
foot long by 6 foot tall barrier and there are no badger footprints
in it though I seem to have possibly 2 foxes around).

Only trouble was that the blighter managed to totally destroy about 25
square feet of lawn every night he got in. I have about a square yard
in the middle left, the rest is wrecked. Galling in that I've spent
the last few years refurbishing that lawn, biting off about a third
each spring, and was looking forward to it looking as I wanted this
year. Now it all needs to be done again.

He also dug down a fair bit in the gravel paths but, for some reason,
totally ignored a freshly cleared and dug border that he had to walk
over to get in and out of the garden.

C'est la vie.

Cheers, Jake
=======================================
Urgling from the East end of Swansea Bay where it got
dark today an hour earlier than a week ago!

Um. I don't know what to say! We've had one (maybe more, don't know)
get in here and scrape a few holes in some grass but nothing like the
war zone you describe. We have literally a few shallow holes. It's
probably not a lot of consolation to say you must have very healthy
soil with loads of worms... Poor you! I'm so sorry!
My golf club is in North Cornwall and is infested with badgers. Every
fairway shows signs of extensive badger damage with some fairways
looking like a battleground.
Quite what the solution is I don't know. I do know the proprietor is
tearing his hair out in frustration.
I'm glad it's not my problem.

Peter

"Peter James" wrote in message
.. .

Sacha wrote:

On 2013-04-03 20:50:04 +0100, The Original Jake said:

Finally, with the aid of £150 worth of metal poles, chain-link
fencing, concrete and kerb-stones I seem to have successfully excluded
that badger from the garden. At least there's been no sign of him for
a week (I spread some sand on the "outside" of my newly-constructed 8
foot long by 6 foot tall barrier and there are no badger footprints
in it though I seem to have possibly 2 foxes around).

Only trouble was that the blighter managed to totally destroy about 25
square feet of lawn every night he got in. I have about a square yard
in the middle left, the rest is wrecked. Galling in that I've spent
the last few years refurbishing that lawn, biting off about a third
each spring, and was looking forward to it looking as I wanted this
year. Now it all needs to be done again.

He also dug down a fair bit in the gravel paths but, for some reason,
totally ignored a freshly cleared and dug border that he had to walk
over to get in and out of the garden.

C'est la vie.

Cheers, Jake
=======================================
Urgling from the East end of Swansea Bay where it got
dark today an hour earlier than a week ago!

Um. I don't know what to say! We've had one (maybe more, don't know)
get in here and scrape a few holes in some grass but nothing like the
war zone you describe. We have literally a few shallow holes. It's
probably not a lot of consolation to say you must have very healthy
soil with loads of worms... Poor you! I'm so sorry!
My golf club is in North Cornwall and is infested with badgers. Every
fairway shows signs of extensive badger damage with some fairways
looking like a battleground.
Quite what the solution is I don't know. I do know the proprietor is
tearing his hair out in frustration.
I'm glad it's not my problem.

Peter

.................................................. .......................

When my daughter and son in law had the Manor House Hotel , Badgers dug
under the Tennis Court and that was the end of that. 'Protected Species' and
don't touch.

Mike

On Wed, 3 Apr 2013 23:10:54 +0100, Sacha wrote:


Um. I don't know what to say! We've had one (maybe more, don't know)
get in here and scrape a few holes in some grass but nothing like the
war zone you describe. We have literally a few shallow holes. It's
probably not a lot of consolation to say you must have very healthy
soil with loads of worms... Poor you! I'm so sorry!

This is one night's gardening work:
http://rivendell.org.uk/galleries/di...156&fullsize=1

The area covered that night is about 25 square feet.

Cheers, Jake
=======================================
Urgling from the East end of Swansea Bay where it got
dark today an hour earlier than a week ago!

On Thu, 4 Apr 2013 08:44:04 +0100, (Peter James)
wrote:


My golf club is in North Cornwall and is infested with badgers. Every
fairway shows signs of extensive badger damage with some fairways
looking like a battleground.
Quite what the solution is I don't know. I do know the proprietor is
tearing his hair out in frustration.
I'm glad it's not my problem.

Peter

It appears that badgers will naturally gravitate towards the mown
grass as it's more difficult to root around in the longer rough stuff.

Try closing the gentlemen's toilet and requesting that the gentlemen
members relieve themselves on the fairways? The range of different
"territorial" scents each day should produce a longer lasting
deterrent effect than that of a single individual member.


Cheers, Jake
=======================================
Urgling from the East end of Swansea Bay where it got
dark today an hour earlier than a week ago!

Would lion poo keep them away?

When I was living in Berlin for a while, there was a huge problem with boars that were drawn to the city for food, causing much damage to gardens. Hadn't thought about that for quite some time but the above mentioned problems with the badgers reminded me of that...

It anyone is interested, here's an article about the boar problem:

Berlin plans hunt of wild boar invaders | Environment | guardian.co.uk

On 2013-04-04 10:15:29 +0100, The Original Jake said:

On Wed, 3 Apr 2013 23:10:54 +0100, Sacha wrote:


Um. I don't know what to say! We've had one (maybe more, don't know)
get in here and scrape a few holes in some grass but nothing like the
war zone you describe. We have literally a few shallow holes. It's
probably not a lot of consolation to say you must have very healthy
soil with loads of worms... Poor you! I'm so sorry!

This is one night's gardening work:
http://rivendell.org.uk/galleries/di...156&fullsize=1

The area covered that night is about 25 square feet.

Cheers, Jake
=======================================
Urgling from the East end of Swansea Bay where it got
dark today an hour earlier than a week ago!

Ye gods!
--

Sacha
www.hillhousenursery.com
South Devon
www.helpforheroes.org.uk

In article ,
lid says...

On Wed, 3 Apr 2013 23:10:54 +0100, Sacha wrote:


Um. I don't know what to say! We've had one (maybe more, don't know)
get in here and scrape a few holes in some grass but nothing like the
war zone you describe. We have literally a few shallow holes. It's
probably not a lot of consolation to say you must have very healthy
soil with loads of worms... Poor you! I'm so sorry!

This is one night's gardening work:
http://rivendell.org.uk/galleries/di...156&fullsize=1

The area covered that night is about 25 square feet.


John says he is willing to employ your badgers to rake out our lawn
moss; when can they start?

Janet

On 04/04/2013 15:05, Sacha wrote:
On 2013-04-04 10:15:29 +0100, The Original Jake said:

On Wed, 3 Apr 2013 23:10:54 +0100, Sacha wrote:


Um. I don't know what to say! We've had one (maybe more, don't know)
get in here and scrape a few holes in some grass but nothing like the
war zone you describe. We have literally a few shallow holes. It's
probably not a lot of consolation to say you must have very healthy
soil with loads of worms... Poor you! I'm so sorry!

This is one night's gardening work:
http://rivendell.org.uk/galleries/di...156&fullsize=1

The area covered that night is about 25 square feet.

Cheers, Jake
=======================================
Urgling from the East end of Swansea Bay where it got
dark today an hour earlier than a week ago!

Ye gods!

I've heard it said that if you put out food for the badgers then they
leave your ground alone.
One way I found to keep them off was to water the boundary with
Armilotox, the scent keeps them away.
It also works when I water our gateway with it, the smell seems to put
off the couples that park there at night.

"The Original Jake" wrote in message
...
Finally, with the aid of £150 worth of metal poles, chain-link
fencing, concrete and kerb-stones I seem to have successfully excluded
that badger from the garden. At least there's been no sign of him for
a week (I spread some sand on the "outside" of my newly-constructed 8
foot long by 6 foot tall barrier and there are no badger footprints
in it though I seem to have possibly 2 foxes around).

Only trouble was that the blighter managed to totally destroy about 25
square feet of lawn every night he got in. I have about a square yard
in the middle left, the rest is wrecked. Galling in that I've spent
the last few years refurbishing that lawn, biting off about a third
each spring, and was looking forward to it looking as I wanted this
year. Now it all needs to be done again.

He also dug down a fair bit in the gravel paths but, for some reason,
totally ignored a freshly cleared and dug border that he had to walk
over to get in and out of the garden.

C'est la vie.


When a neighbour said he'd seen a badger in his garden, my heart dropped.
They can be a real problem in gardens and they are worse than foxes at
breaking into chicken huts because they are so strong (and yes, they *do*
eat chickens)
Anyway, he's not been seen recently. Phew.

The barriers you have put in place should be sufficient.
I had to do a similar thing against foxes, the important thing is the
kerbstones under the fenceline so they cannot dig in.
Lots of luck that your badger defences work.

Tina

On Thu, 4 Apr 2013 15:29:26 +0100, Janet wrote:



John says he is willing to employ your badgers to rake out our lawn
moss; when can they start?

Janet

I had (I hope past tense) only one large male badger. Assuming he was
kicked out of the sett by a younger usurper so probably not in the
best of health anyway. If he does come back, I'll parcel him up for
you. However, he will probably remove the top 3-4" of soil along with
the thatch and moss!

Cheers, Jake
=======================================
Urgling from the East end of Swansea Bay where it got
dark today an hour earlier than a week ago!

On Thu, 04 Apr 2013 17:21:40 +0100, David Hill
wrote:


I've heard it said that if you put out food for the badgers then they
leave your ground alone.

A badger group recommended that I put out dog food at the point of
entry (equivalent of 4 standard tins a night FOR ONE BADGER) or spread
peanuts over the lawn at the rate of a 12Kg sack on first night and
then another sack when half of first lot had been eaten FOR ONE
BADGER. Oh, yeah! I spend up to £50 a month on bird food but don't
intend to spend 2-3 times that on ONE BADGER!

One way I found to keep them off was to water the boundary with
Armilotox, the scent keeps them away.

Any scented stuff will apparently only work with certainty until they
become used to the smell. Hence a suggestion I made in another
sub-thread to utilise all the gentlemen members of a golf club,
producing a variety of scents.

In any event, the use of Armillatox for this purpose is illegal.

It also works when I water our gateway with it, the smell seems to put
off the couples that park there at night.

Why not forget the smelly stuff and get a CCTV camera. Put the
resulting footage on You Tube!

Cheers, Jake
=======================================
Urgling from the East end of Swansea Bay where it got
dark today an hour earlier than a week ago!

On Thu, 4 Apr 2013 09:35:44 +0000, Granity
wrote:



Would lion poo keep them away?

Apparently only until they get used to the smell. Then they would dig
additional holes around it and add their own conflicting-scented
stuff!

When I first bought the house, there was a "family" of badgers that
visited regularly and did no damage at all. I removed a gravel board
from under a fence to make access and exit easier for them and, in
return, they assisted with the removal of slugs and snails. Then they
just disappeared. 22 years later, badger from hell appeared. But, I
hope, he's gone elsewhere now.

Cheers, Jake
=======================================
Urgling from the East end of Swansea Bay where it got
dark today an hour earlier than a week ago!