Last week was a big week at the Woodland Reserve in Badger.
Yes, the name of the nearest town is Badger too! Coincidental, apparently.
The TrailCam picked up some Badger activity among a group of Setts overnight the nights ago. It was a joy for us to see. The excitement was compounded in noticing that the this Badger had deliberately kicked dirt over the camera. He wasn't sure about this new object. There is a picture of the emergence from the sett before midnight, and a video showing the return in the morning.
On night two of this position, the Badger avoided the camera shot altogether. Still there was signs of activity.
On site: We installed recycled plastic, rainwater collection units which will be filtered and treated water, until we can find the natural spring on the land. Also installed was a solar/wind battery that can power our off-grid, magical project for several years, courtesy of the sun and air.
Tree-houses are emerging in the low canopies as my brilliant, conservationist friends come to help out and establish a care regime for the thriving nature. A number of ancient living techniques are being installed for full sustainability and our overall ecological accountability.
The ancient, coppice woodland contains a huge variety of species of plants and animals, residing on a hill on the borders of Shropshire and Staffordshire. The land itself appears on many ancient maps dating back hundreds of years, and we are finding evidence of ice age and prehistoric land movements nearby, such as bowls in the land left by ice melts and huge water-eroded, loose igneous rocks, also left behind by prehistoric ice shifts and land movements.
The acreage is remote, quiet, and miles away from any large towns or cities. We will be returning the coniferous vegetation back to broadleaf and traditional coppicing species over the coming years, along with developing an indigenous mushroom farm here including Oyster and Turkey tail. This will be in symbiosis with some other nutritional foreign species such as Reishi and Shitake. Micro Greens will be a nutritional focus, as well as bee-keeping and monastic herb gardens -"Physick" (where the word "sick" originates). We have begun felling oaks and beech for the mushroom inoculation season. It can take years to integrate with a local mycology, but something tells us that the soil under our feet will take kindly, and quickly, to helpful mycological additions. This has already become an interest of local agriculture businesses. We are learning they face plenty of criticism for not looking after the soil well enough in our immediate locale.
We have already been visited by moles, voles, toads, frogs, dormice, woodmice, owls and buzzards ...but the elusive and nocturnal badger is harder to spot. Regular nighttime noises had confirmed their presence and dwelling near camp, but this debut revelation has motivated and inspired us in the ways and practices of how to approach the wildlife.
Thanks for reading.
Jacob.