We read for the long-established badgers. For they are first out of the cover when the goodies are spread at nightfall across the grass and under the big tree. The other night, says the neighbour, there were three of them, tiny cubs, more like kittens, but with their white bibs. The bigger animal in the background was probably the mother.The badgers emerge from the bushes on the other side of the grass, slower, but not all that slow. When a car light shines on them suddenly or someone passes too close, the foxes are off like a shot.
Badgers can put on a good turn of speed, but some are more phlegmatic than others. It tends to be, contrarywise, the younger, smaller ones which go on munching. You'll remember that Christopher Moriarty in his book on Dublin mentioned here last week, gave the most citified badger he had heard of as being one seen in Baggot Street, more than a decade ago; and didn't he tell us there was a fox's lair in Merrion Square?All the above activity is a couple of miles from there, but still in the heart of suburbia. They all proceed at a different pace in their feeding. No fights. You see badgers and foxes guzzling side by side, and often badgers and a neighbouring cat. The hearing of the fox is remarkable. A voice raised inside the window which directly overlooks their feeding ground often sends them away.The older foxes always doing their stately best to look unhurried, carrying the tail straight out behind.A few miles farther out, at the foot of the mountains and you have deer descending on you; and they can do a lot of eating of your plants. The foxes and badgers in the garden mentioned above usually clean up all the food. But if the weather is bad, or the mood is not on them, as with badgers in midwinter, and the food is not all eaten, the magpies have a great breakfast when day dawns. Though badgers, perhaps making a second inspection, have been seen quartering the grass at about four in the morning, just recently.