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| Of hungry badgers and hidden worms Of hungry badgers and hidden worms | |
| (4 months later) | |
| It took only a few dry weeks for the fields on the plateau above the village to forget that it had ever rained. The clay soil was beginning to crack, the footpath had turned to a sun-baked dirt track and there was no yield underfoot. Every bump and stone was hard and uncompromisingly contoured, jabbing at an instep, stubbing a toe. | It took only a few dry weeks for the fields on the plateau above the village to forget that it had ever rained. The clay soil was beginning to crack, the footpath had turned to a sun-baked dirt track and there was no yield underfoot. Every bump and stone was hard and uncompromisingly contoured, jabbing at an instep, stubbing a toe. |
| The worms had become dustbowl refugees in this parched landscape, sinking deep underground. Far below my feet, they would be aestivating, bunched up in knots, coated in their own mucus in a hibernation-like suspension of active life, waiting for moisture to come again. | The worms had become dustbowl refugees in this parched landscape, sinking deep underground. Far below my feet, they would be aestivating, bunched up in knots, coated in their own mucus in a hibernation-like suspension of active life, waiting for moisture to come again. |
| In this droughty, worm-free landscape, it was all too apparent that the hedgerow fruit had not ripened a moment too soon for the badgers of Palmers Wood. Alongside the footpath I found more pits of purple poo than I would in wetter summers. Each potty-trained brock had meticulously scooped out hollows in the earth and deposited treacly dollops studded with berry pips and fruit stones. | In this droughty, worm-free landscape, it was all too apparent that the hedgerow fruit had not ripened a moment too soon for the badgers of Palmers Wood. Alongside the footpath I found more pits of purple poo than I would in wetter summers. Each potty-trained brock had meticulously scooped out hollows in the earth and deposited treacly dollops studded with berry pips and fruit stones. |
| A couple of evenings before, we had struggled to collect more than a handful of blackberries here; judging by the quantity of dung, the badgers had already stripped every bush clean, barging through thorny bramble stems, nettles and thistles alike to fill their bellies with fruit. | A couple of evenings before, we had struggled to collect more than a handful of blackberries here; judging by the quantity of dung, the badgers had already stripped every bush clean, barging through thorny bramble stems, nettles and thistles alike to fill their bellies with fruit. |
| In all probability the same hungry animals had emerged from the far side of the wood on to a path that circumnavigated a field of golden wheat, the biggest and possibly last cereal crop in the area still awaiting the combines. It was clearly muesli night for the badger family. At the corner they had indulged in a messy orgy of combine harvesting, badger-style, as they added cereal to their fruit. | In all probability the same hungry animals had emerged from the far side of the wood on to a path that circumnavigated a field of golden wheat, the biggest and possibly last cereal crop in the area still awaiting the combines. It was clearly muesli night for the badger family. At the corner they had indulged in a messy orgy of combine harvesting, badger-style, as they added cereal to their fruit. |
| Standing stalks with ragged tops showed where the grain had been bitten off, and an area of crop about 10 metres square had been heavily trampled. Many stalks still with a full head of grain had been flattened, or snapped and sagged. It felt like some kind of wild tithe the farmer had to pay – the badgers’ share. | Standing stalks with ragged tops showed where the grain had been bitten off, and an area of crop about 10 metres square had been heavily trampled. Many stalks still with a full head of grain had been flattened, or snapped and sagged. It felt like some kind of wild tithe the farmer had to pay – the badgers’ share. |
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