{"id":14816,"date":"2024-11-21T11:29:29","date_gmt":"2024-11-21T10:29:29","guid":{"rendered":"http:\/\/wenvoe.org.uk\/?p=14816"},"modified":"2024-11-21T11:38:03","modified_gmt":"2024-11-21T10:38:03","slug":"it-was-a-brock","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"http:\/\/wenvoe.org.uk\/?p=14816","title":{"rendered":"It Was A Brock,"},"content":{"rendered":"
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IT WAS A BROCK,<\/span><\/p>\n

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It was a brock, a grey, a pate or a bawson. They were around in Britain between half a million and three quarters of a million years ago where they co-existed with wolves, brown bears, arctic foxes and wolverines. They live underground in setts and a group of badgers living together is called a clan. To those of you who follow our Facebook Page (Wenvoe Wildlife) you will have seen some great shots of badgers in the parish. We do not reveal where they have been seen as badger baiting (using dogs to hunt and kill badgers illegally) is still a problem.<\/p>\n

Badgers are at the centre of a major debate between those farmers who believe badgers can help spread TB (bovine tuberculosis) to cattle and those who believe killing the badgers will not cure the TB problem. In the last 10 years it is believed that around 230,000 badgers have been culled. However in Wales the Government have put an end to culling whilst other options to eradicate TB are considered. To find out more about the pros and cons go online.<\/p>\n

Badgers have played a significant role in literature including the Wind in the Willows, the Redwall series, Watership Down and Beatrix Potter books. Sometimes they are friendly, sometimes less so. Going back further, they appear in both European and Asian folklore – Chinese and Japanese tradition have them as shapeshifters. They are meticulously clean animals having latrines a little way away from the sett and changing their bedding of straw, grass or bracken periodically. At times they will take their bedding outside to ‘air’ and kill off any bugs and parasites. They have even been known to bring garlic leaves into the sett to help deter unwanted insects.<\/p>\n

Along with the poet, John Clare, 200 years ago we can celebrate:<\/p>\n

The badger grunting on his woodland track<\/p>\n

With shaggy hide and sharp nose scrowed<\/p>\n

With black roots in the bushes and the woods<\/p>\n

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IT WAS A BROCK, It was a brock, a grey, a pate or a bawson. They were around in Britain between half a million and three quarters of a million years ago where they co-existed with wolves, brown bears, arctic foxes and wolverines. They live underground in setts and a group of badgers living together is called a clan. To […]<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":4,"featured_media":0,"comment_status":"closed","ping_status":"open","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"jetpack_post_was_ever_published":false,"_jetpack_newsletter_access":"","_jetpack_newsletter_tier_id":0,"footnotes":"","jetpack_publicize_message":"","jetpack_is_tweetstorm":false,"jetpack_publicize_feature_enabled":true,"jetpack_social_post_already_shared":true,"jetpack_social_options":{"image_generator_settings":{"template":"highway","enabled":false}}},"categories":[49],"tags":[],"jetpack_publicize_connections":[],"jetpack_featured_media_url":"","jetpack_sharing_enabled":true,"jetpack_shortlink":"https:\/\/wp.me\/p6cWjO-3QY","jetpack-related-posts":[{"id":13188,"url":"http:\/\/wenvoe.org.uk\/?p=13188","url_meta":{"origin":14816,"position":0},"title":"NATURE NOTES","author":"Alan Williams","date":"3rd July 2023","format":false,"excerpt":"NATURE NOTES \u00a0 We are often asked about the effects of artificial lawns on wildlife. The benefits in terms of maintenance etc. are understood and promoted in advertising by plastic grass suppliers. However recently the Royal Horticultural Society published an article summarising the less welcome effects these can have on\u2026","rel":"","context":"In "Nature Notes"","block_context":{"text":"Nature Notes","link":"http:\/\/wenvoe.org.uk\/?cat=49"},"img":{"alt_text":"","src":"https:\/\/i0.wp.com\/wenvoe.org.uk\/wp-content\/uploads\/2023\/07\/Picture3.png?resize=350%2C200","width":350,"height":200,"srcset":"https:\/\/i0.wp.com\/wenvoe.org.uk\/wp-content\/uploads\/2023\/07\/Picture3.png?resize=350%2C200 1x, https:\/\/i0.wp.com\/wenvoe.org.uk\/wp-content\/uploads\/2023\/07\/Picture3.png?resize=525%2C300 1.5x"},"classes":[]},{"id":8218,"url":"http:\/\/wenvoe.org.uk\/?p=8218","url_meta":{"origin":14816,"position":1},"title":"Commentaries On Nature","author":"Alan Williams","date":"4th September 2020","format":false,"excerpt":"Nature Notes Commentaries on Nature will always be something of the Good, the Bad and the Ugly. So let's start at the grimmer end of the spectrum. 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