In the Episode Seven of the Injured Badger Hole Adventures I return to the sett of the injured badger after taking a day off in order to visit a badger pair living in a more remote location of the forest. On Day Eight, I am once again greeted by the local Woodpecker who likes to follow me around, and realize I should give him a name, instead of just referring to him as a “woodpecker”. Having not brought any more food for a few days due to there having been no sighting of the injured badger for over a week, the wood rats who had previously enjoyed a feast munching on the food intended for their injured roommate, ate all the unripe Aguaymanto which they had previously ignored because there was an abundance of tastier treats to enjoy. But since I stopped resuplying, suddenly said Aguaymanto became good enough for them. On Day Nine I am greeted by a trio of Roe Deer who, unlike other groups of deer living in the woods, have had many run ins with me and now accept me as part of the forest, much as the Woodpecker and the Tawny Owl. While other deer run for their lives when they see a human, including me, this deer trio stays chill and at max moves a bit away if I get too close, but don’t take off. Actually, if I stay at least 10 meters away from them, they don’t run at all and just continue with their normal daily routine. On that day I eventually give the Woodpecker a name – Decker. The whole “Woodpecker Decker” had a great ring to it, much as his pecks on the trees above my head. Unfortunately, not even after a week and a half has there been any sighting of the injured badger so the previously already strong feeling that he may not have made it got even stronger, but I choose to keep the last spark of hope that by some miracle, despite all odds, the badger somehow survives. It may be just wishful thinking at this stage, but I’m still not ready to give up on my badger. The compilation of the videos from the trail camera once again reveals only the activity of the local rats, but because there is no more food in the food box, they are forced to return to their normal lives of having to find their own food so there is less of them captured on video than there used to be when the food box was full of treats. I used my own music for the compilation. It’s my guitar rendition of a Hungarian March #5 in G Minor by a German composer Johannes Brahms. The track was recorded live in 1996. There is no studio recording of this tune. 00:00 Resident woodpecker greets me again 00:43 Day 8 at the injured badger hole 00:58 Rats ate all aguaymanto 01:40 I decide to give the woodpecker a name 02:04 Game cam prepared for another night in the woods 02:37 Chill roe deer trio drops by 03:53 I give the woodpecker name “Decker” 04:11 Day 9 at the injured badger hole 04:29 Starts to rain 05:18 Woodpecker Decker shows up 06:06 Trail cam footage compilation Keep rocking :o) Mark https://www.bestgore.com/

In this, second episode of Injured Badger Hole Adventures, I show why I harvested unripe Aguaymanto (Physalis Peruviana), aka Cape Goosberry or GoldenBerry, I then extract the unripe berries from Calyx (paper husk they are in) while showing the Aguaymanto plants that froze dead before the berries on them had a chance to fully mature. In the batch of harvested berries I find two ripe ones, so I extract seeds from them to plant them in the coming season. I add the unripe berries to the apple pieces and bone leftovers from a rabbit dish and save it all for the injured badger. At the injured badger hole I find the food left there the previous day only partially eaten. A sign that the badger likely didn't show up and just the omnipresent rats had a bit of a munch. Nevertheless, I add the extra food I brought with me, filling up the cardboard box. Upon returning home, I looked at the card I took from the trail camera to see if the badger came out of the den. The compilation of some of the videos from the trail cam is at the end of the episode. In this episode I also introduce more cuts in order to keep the overall length of the video shorter. I sometimes talk too much or go off on a tangent even though I’m not the most eloquent person in the world, so in order not to bore you with my ramblings too much, I cut out pieces of the original video to keep the final edit briefer. 00:00 Separating unripe Aguaymanto (Physalis Peruviana) from Calyx (paper husk) 03:20 Extracting seeds from ripe Aguaymanto berries 05:30 What Aguaymanto seeds look like 05:58 Raised beds in my garden with Aguaymanto plants that died owing to frost 06:39 Steep hill leading toward the injured badger’s den 08:33 I slip on wet root 09:30 Arriving at injured badger hole and examining food leftovers 10:55 Filling up food box with unripe Aguaymanto, apple and rabbit bones and meat 12:12 Setting the trail camera up for another night in the woods 13:09 Compilation of videos captures on the trail camera overnight Music for the trail cam footage: Symphony No 9 From the New World by Antonin Dvorak Keep rocking :o) Mark www.bestgore.com

Four days since finding out that the European Badger (Meles Meles) in one of the setts I have been monitoring with a trail camera is injured, I return to the injured badger hole with whatever food I could still find in my modest home. I live in a remote area in the woods and don't go shopping often - at most once a week - so my supplies are limited to what I need for immediate survival. I had to look for food in less common places to put something together until my next trip to town. So far however all my efforts to help the injured badger survive the looming winter have fallen flat - since last seen, he has not come out of his burrow and the thoughts that he may not have made it are getting stronger by the minute. However the wood rats are having a feast for the fourth day in a row on the food intended for the injured badger. In this video, as with the Episode 03, I used my own music as a dubbing track for the trail camera footage. It's a live recording of me improvising on a guitar to a simple backing track played back on repeat. The audio is old and of lower quality, plus it's not a studio recording so there are mishaps in the shreds, but it's my own music so no copyright notice can result as a result of its use. Previously I got a copyright notice from YouTube for using a 120 years old classical music piece in one of my videos. Hence I decided to drop that and use what's mine, regardless of quality. The situation regarding the badger keeps me sad, though, as the reality that he may not be alive anymore grows ever stronger. I’m however determined to not give up on him. 00:00 Day 4 at the injured badger hole 02:34 Changing memory card and batteries in trail camera 04:17 Refilling the food box with fresh scraps 05:00 Hoping the injured badger makes it 05:10 Trail cam footage from previous night compiled to original music Keep rocking :o) Mark www.bestgore.com

I have a Tawny Owl (Strix Aluco) in my woods. She's very elusive and her flight is so quiet, she could fly overhead and you'd never notice. But she's also very territorial so on my daily strolls through the forest, I do from time to time spot her. When I see her and she lets me come somewhat close to her, I try to film her. Obviously, she's still a wile animal who doesn't care for human presence, so even though she's quite used to me by now, filming her is always a challenge. I was still able to get some footage of her and am happy to share it with you all.