Badgers in the Garden

• #Frugal Living
• #Gardening
• #Wildlife
• #How to...

In December, the bottom of the garden flooded, so we finally had to move the chickens to new quarters further up the garden. In February, the old chicken run was converted into a wildlife garden. In March, we finally got around to setting up the trail cam in the hope of filming some of the local wildlife - now we have badgers!

With the help of a battery powered Trail Camera (these have dropped greatly in price, with models, such as ours, available from under £75) we are able to leave it running and capture footage through the night, thanks to the infra red. These little cameras are amazing and make wildlife filming something we can all afford to do without even incurring the costs of leaving home!

How to attract badgers - leave out some peanuts! The very first night we left out peanuts, our first badger arrived. Prior to this, they had no access to this part of the garden, as it had been fenced off for the hens.

As you know, we have several ecoarts sculptures in the garden, so the badger had to go and investigate. I don't think it quite knew what to do but I can't help but wonder if it recognised the sculpture as a badger!

 

At first the badger was curious about the camera, as it shines a little blue light when the sensors are triggered and clicks as it begins filming in infra red. Very quickly, our garden badger seemed completely at ease with the gadget until, at one point, he (or she) lay down and fell asleep watching it!

 

Over the coming week, our badger decided it was safe enough to bring along a friend to share the peanuts that get sat on top of the tree stump and scattered around it on the ground. We got very excited by this and the thought crossed our minds that this could be a pair that may just return with babies in tow at some point in the not too distant future.

 

Within about a week, word had spread of the tasty peanut treats available in Frugaldom's cottage wildlife garden and we were delighted when we reviewed the footage and discovered that a third badger had arrived! This was more than we had dreamed of seeing and had me wondering how many badgers live in a sett - or a holt. I've now nicknamed this corner of our garden 'Badgers Halt'! This was the week they began attempting to dig under the shed, so rocks had to be scattered around it to try and prevent them from tunnelling underneath it. This seemed to work, but then...

 

The next day, after reviewing what the camera had captured during the previous night, we were shocked to see a fourth badger happily munching away on the peanuts. Never had we expected anything like this - we seem to have attracted an entire family of them. The original visitor is there every night, almost every hour from dusk until well into the night and then returns before dawn. They all seem to be most active at dusk, but this may be because the peanuts are all gone by morning.

 

And then last night, to round off the month of March and take us through to April, we were introduced to our 5th badger of the group, so I had to go and do some more reading. According to the information about badgers on the Wildlife Trust web site, there can be up to 14 badgers living in the one sett, so I think we're going to need a whole load more peanuts!

These are very entertaining creatures but they are also very boisterous, with a tendency to run at one another, head-butting and body slamming. I will try to upload some of the video clips to our Frugaldom YouTube channel so you can share their antics.

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Lentil Soup and Wildlife Spotting

The weekend adventure of wildlife spotting began with the arrival of the slow cooker, rehomed my way via another member of the family after my precious crock pot fractured irreparably. It will be sadly missed for cooking, but will be repurposed to make a great planter once it has been decorated. Now for the wildlife tale...

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It began with a smoked ham hough (or hock) that I bought from the supermarket. These are slowly creeping back up in price, but are still worth paying a couple of pounds each for them, as you can get a full pot of stock for soup and enough meat for at least one family-sized pie.

Anyhow... I made a full pot of ham and lentil soup, which is enough for about a dozen lunches, then chopped up the meat to make a pie, which will be another 4 meals. All in all, the smoked ham hock will produce lunches for two of us here for a full week, so it's uber-frugal! We don't eat the fat - we feed it to the wild birds after it has been boiled. Or so we thought!

Recently, I invested in one of those motion sensor activated trail cameras with infra red night vision. I am still practising with it before deciding where to set it up for future research. This is a series of stills it caught between late last night, when we put the leftovers from soup making out onto the bird table, and this morning. The first 'capture' was a cat - I'm assuming it belongs to neighbours, although none of them seems to know who owns it.

At around dawn, a thrush arrived, closely watched over by a female blackbird, a few dunnocks and some sparrows. The thrush, however, was allowed first 'dibs' on the pork fat.

The next visitor to the log man bird table was 'Hopalong', the crow we have filmed in the past that has what looks like a deformed or previously broken leg. His (or her) leg seems no better and no worse, nor does it seem to impair flight or the ability to feed.

We don't normally see the magpies coming up to this particular bird table, as it's at the top of the garden, next to the greenhouse, the out building and in view of the kitchen window. I cant help but admire these birds, despite the bad name they have developed as thieves and nest-wreckers.

And finally, our own cat gets out after a night curled up sleeping on her cushion and goes for a closer look at the camera. No wonder I often find her sitting on the kitchen windowsill, nose to glass, peering out into the garden! There's so much going on out there!

As I sit here tapping away at the keyboard, I now have the camera trained on the bird feeder right outside my window. So far, I have seen robins, blue tits, great tits, coal tits, green finches and goldfinches. (The bird in the photo is a goldfinch.) There's a wren keeps bobbing about inside the driftwood horse and the robin loves perching on the antlers of the driftwood stag. How I am ever going to complete the remaining 17,500 words of my 2014 attempt at NaNoWriMo is beyond me when I have such distractions all around me!

Welcome to Scotland, welcome to frugal living and welcome to Frugaldom, where I'm writing my way through life, while living on a shoestring budget and attempting to create a self-sustainable wilderness experience for all to share. As we prepare for 2015, let's not forget what is all around us, there to be appreciated and all totally free to enjoy.

NYK in Frugaldom

Finding Free Stuff All Around Us

Making the Most of Freebies!

FREE FOR ALL!

I don't have any expensive camera equipment - my little 3x zoom digital model was 'bought' using free Buddy Points via the eBid online auctions - nor have I ever studied any form of photography, so this is the best of my abilities on a budget of zero - the full moon on 17th December 2013 at around 2am.

 

Next is the winter solstice - 21 December at 17.11, to be precise - otherwise known as the shortest day or the longest night, whichever way you choose to look at it. In reality it is both, so it's like a seasonal BOGOF (Buy One, Get One Free) bargain with the price tag reading £0.00

 

Enjoy your freebies! Even if you can't spot them this month, they are repeated like clockwork and will never become the preserve of the rich and/or famous.

 

NYK, Frugaldom

This Time Last Year...

Reconsidering all my options.

Reed Bunting



This time last year, it was snowing. Temperatures were sub zero and all around us was white. The lane was frozen solid, almost impassable because of it's icy state, glittering invitingly to anyone who dared even attempt to skim its glassy surface in anything more than a pair of wellies. Walking, although a very frugal pastime, was quite treacherous, but not so much that it deterred us from partaking of frugal photography.

Within the scope of affordable inventions, I reckon digital cameras surpass most new visual technology. They have opened up the doors to a whole new world for amateur photographers, especially those who had previously found the costs of film, development, delayed results and, ultimately, wastage, prohibitive. No more shall we feel the financial pain of throwing away the bad photos, for the 21st Century brought technological magic to the fingertips of ever prudent, camera-wielding wizard - affordable fun! Indeed, we purchased an exceptionally fine model using eBid Buddy Points - no cash involved.

Many a stunning view was captured from around the place we call Frugaldom with many of these images saved and printed for calenders, postcards and greetings cards; some even became keyrings, coasters and fridge magnets.

This time last year, I had already seen my daughter celebrate her engagement (July 2009) and then her wedding (September 2009). These things are major family events that NEED to be budgeted for well in advance. Thankfully, frugal living, for me, had begun in 2001 and has continued, unabeited, since. It is neither inhibitive nor does it prevent me from living life the way I want it. In fact, it is very liberating. Self-catering a birthday party for 120 people on a budget of around £100 for food was entertaining, to say the least - but everybody loved it and nobody cared - they ate, they drank and they made merry. By pulling together, the families managed to throw a most memorable wedding party the following September and then, come mid 2010, my son didn't go without for his 21st. Frugal living is the only way to live if you intend becoming a frugal entrepreneur. It's about grasping opportunities and running the risk of succeeding in making something out of almost nothing.

Throughout 2010, frugality was the watchword. The resulting spreadsheets have slowly, year by year, been developed to reflect everything I could possibly need or spend. At the same time, they have managed to remain incredibly simple and show me where changes need to be made at any given time. The ISA may not have been filled and I may not own my own home, but that's not the point. As a frugal entrepreneur, I feel it is better to live and save within my means, able to take advantage of whatever small opportunity comes along.

I originally started this challenge to clear outstanding debts and then accrue some savings in the hope of buying a house without a mortgage - but now I'm not so sure. If I buy a house, it represents nothing more that a roof over my head until it becomes inheritance for my kids, but why should they wait? Why shouldn't they learn my frugal ways and benefit from them now?

This time last year I promised myself we would save every £2 coin and every piece of spare change into the homemade papier mache banks we'd all made. By Christmas, the household had an extra £150+ to play with and my son still hasn't even emptied his bank, yet.

This time last year was a full year ago and it's hard to believe how quickly that time has passed. But pass it has. This New Year, I was blessed with a brand new baby grand daughter, my second in the family, so why should I squirrel away every penny to pay for a house that will, ultimately, be sold? I haven't fully given up on buying a house without a mortgage. To be 100% honest, I know, exactly, what house I want to buy. But money in the bank isn't everything. So I have another plan...

Back on the frugal grocery challenge, tonight's dinner was courtesy of the freezer - leftover roast beef with gravy, puff pastry and assorted root veg - homegrown potatoes, turnips and parsnips -  that were lurking in the bottom of the freezer. Frugaler and frugaler... another day goes by without needing to buy.  I did spend some money, though: £23 on coal, £15 on electricity and £15 to my friendly society bond with life assurance. I also squirreled £66.94 into the savings account to round up to the next even hundred, but that was only because it was such an untidy figure at the start of the day. The friendly society bond isn't a brilliant investment but it does allow you to put up to £25 per month into tax free savings and offers a guaranteed life assurance from day one. At worst, it'll cover a cheap funeral, at best I'll get some money back in a few years time. I opened the policy online via Topcashback, so I made the most of that and the extra £15 of M&S vouchers I received. They're offering £50 cashback at the moment for a Scottish Friendly Bond, but it takes a long time to track and pay out - most insurance related products seem to take at least three months. I'll let you know when this year's home contents policy pays the cashback - it should be due soon. 

Please always double check for the best available deals at the time. Savings bonds can go down as well as up, so not always the best option for anyone just wanting to save for a rainy day. Personally, I dislike life insurance because of the risk of losing it all by out-living the policy! At least the life assurance with the friendly society bond offers me something back after the alloted timescale or a small death benefit to save the family from any sudden expenses like a funeral. It isn't morbid - it makes good frugal sense.

Tomorrow, I think, might be Premium Bonds checking day!