I am lucky enough to live, at the moment at least, in a part of the UK that has a lot of badgers. Sadly we do see a great many of them lining the sides of the roads and it always makes me sad. Sometimes we see so many that it is hard to believe there can be any left! I find it hard to think that some people want them destroyed as they are, to me at least, one of our great animals. One of the creatures that makes one think of Britain and its’ glorious countryside. Every time I see a badger, I think of Wind  the Willows, and why not?

The first time I saw a badger in the wild was in Cumbria. I was working at Lowther Leisure Park at the time and the game keeper had a brother called Steve, a really nice bloke who offered to take me badger watching. It turned into a bit of a trip as others wanted to come along too, but it was so worth it. The sight of all those badgers was magical to me. I think we saw about eleven of them that evening. I spent four summers living in Cumbria, in Hackthorpe near Penrith and those were the only badgers I ever saw there! So thank you Steve for that unforgettable experience. Well that was many years ago now and the leisure park I worked in now longer exists or if it does it is in a new guise with new management.

I took my camera with me, it was a present for my 18^th birthday from my sister and so I took my first photographs of badgers up there in Cumbria. I was not 18 at the time, I think I was around 23 actually, as I said, many years ago now! However, this image is not from that time at all. I took this image in 2018 in Kent, UK, near where I currently live. I like the way he, or she, I have no idea, is looking at the camera almost posing for me. I also like the dirtiness of it, as it is clearly  rummaging around in the dirt for food etc. It did not stay there for long and was soon gone from view. I haven’t seen another live badger since! I must get out there and find some soon, well after the Covid-19 pandemic which I currently taking place now and we are all on lockdown so no badger watching for now. Stay safe.

Badger 01, is available on my website in various sizes.