28.
ALL NIGHT MAMMAL MEETING 14th/l5th June
Ten experienced "brock" watchers each took four people
out to watch their favourite badger sett. The mode of
watching varied from feeding badgers in a garden (Don
Hunford) and watching them from the comfort of the
living room, to the more conventional methods of
squatting in the undergrowth or on a precarious tree-
perch.
Watchers from seven of the ten groups were successful
in seeing or hearing badgers. , Most of the badgers
emerged between nine-thirty and ten o'clock.
By twelve-thirty everyone was tucking into hamburger
rolls and soup in a lovely old timbered hall. This
was followed by a most interesting lecture on badgers,
delivered by Bob Cowlin, interrupted by frequent cries
of "any one for another hamburger" from Trevor and David
Scott.
At two-thirty (a.m.!) each car load took a different
route through the winding Essex lanes in order to
observe nocturnal mammals the lazy way - in car head-
lights. This produced two foxes, one live and several
dead hedgehogs, owls, one live shrew and many cats.
Nimble David Corke leapt from his vehicle to catch the
shrew and could be seen proudly showing it off later
that morning.
We met up again at South Weald and explored the wood-
lands and fields at dawn seeing at least 25 fallow deer.
The meeting officially closed at five-thirty in the
morning and only one energetic and totally insane
naturalist (me!) returned for Dr. Chapman's deer catch
later in the morning.
Our thanks go to David Corke and all those involved for
making the meeting such an enjoyable event.
Ian P. Misselbrook