"The stormy March is come at last, With wind and cloud and changing skies.
Yet, though the winds are loud and bleak, Thou art a welcome month to me"

. . . .as I can now look out for some of the things which give me great pleasure. They are common, but this is part of their charm - to know that thousands of people for hundreds of years past have noticed and delighted in them. I love the clumps of primroses nestling in grassy banks, the newly varnished celandines, the frail wood anemones, the coltsfoot and the first dandelion of spring with its spurred stalk; we can soon expect "Daffydown dilly to come to town, In her yellow petticoat and her green gown."

The badger sow will have given birth by now to perhaps three to five cubs. The majority of these will live to adulthood, and fully grown badgers can live up to fifteen years of age. Badgers don't have any natural predators but humans are responsible for the death of many - both accidentally, on roads, and deliberately, either by gassing them in the mistaken belief that they infect cattle with T.B. or by the cruel sport of badger-baiting.

The sow will be making regular and frequent trips to gather food, and a common favourite is the earthworm. She doesn't wander too far from the nest since she must return to suckle her young.

Liz Jones