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Bees, Wasps and Badgers


old'un
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on my Sunday morning walk (no gun) I do about five or six miles on a couple of local farms, I have lost count this year of the number of bumblebee and wasp nest I have seen dugout by Badgers, the latest one this morning, completely destroyed with just a few injured bees walking around the hole where the nest was.

 

bee1.jpg

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11 minutes ago, old'un said:

on my Sunday morning walk (no gun) I do about five or six miles on a couple of local farms, I have lost count this year of the number of bumblebee and wasp nest I have seen dugout by Badgers, the latest one this morning, completely destroyed with just a few injured bees walking around the hole where the nest was.

 

bee1.jpg

I bet that`s something that you`ll never see or hear mentioned on Springwatch, or the decimation of hedgehogs by badgers. 

OB

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Yep, and according to Mr Packham one of the reasons for the fall in bumblebee numbers is down to farmers and farming methods......or Mr Packham is it possibly your friend Mr Brock?

Its funny really has I have not done a scientific study (Packham likes them) on the effect badgers have on bumblebee, wasp and hedgehog numbers, but having spent many hours in the countryside, I know what my eyes tell me and how many times they tell me the same story.

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Lose at least eight or ten bumble nest a year in my wood due to badgers digging them out.  Is that what they call "An elephant in the room?".  Very few bumbles about this year, in particular the big boogers and I have a huge display of antirrihinums and they are the only ones to climb inside.  They also dug up two huge wasp nests in the wood last year.

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I’ve noticed some of this around the spinneys on our shoot. When I mentioned it to the farmer he said it was probably badgers digging out bees. He said it’s a shame we’re not allowed to shoot them. We can, however, hit them on the head with a shovel.  I laughed. He was serious.

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In my early 20’s when I worked on a mixed arable/ livestock farm I would spend days in the early summer walking the field margins pulling out Ragwort. Day after day I would see bee and wasp nests dug out along with numerous Hedgehogs turned inside out. It is no wonder these species are struggling. 

I agree with Packham that nature would find a balance, all that is needed is for humans to wiped off face of the earth. Maybe he could volunteer to go first.🤔

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4 hours ago, rimfire4969 said:

I had a argument with a fluffy about Badgers, they were complaining that there are "no Hedgehogs around anymore, but a plus point was there are a lot more Badgers". They would not listen to my point that the more Badgers you have the less Hedgehogs.

Most likely a waste of time, it's apparent todays society is unwilling to listen to another point of view leaving no room for consideration of another view?

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