merry meet on a damp dorset day

in an effort to help lower my blood sugar levels i joined swampy and cody on their morning walk today.
we followed the dead end lane behind us and then crossed the now harvetsed corn field, and further up to another field.
it was a morning for wildlife watching...there was a buzzard very close to us and flying really low, ending his/her flight by settling on a fence post. then in the field above us deer kept running across between the three areas of woodland. then we checked out the badger set we came across last year...making sure there had been no suspicious activity. luckily the only activity was their own housework and evidence of them dragging bedding down. we were lucky enough to see in the earth a single clear paw print...probably twice the size of cody's!
seeing this reminded me of the time when my dad lived not far away from here at a place called fifehead magdalene (what a fantastic name!) we were driving home after a visit in the dark and driving slowly down a lane came across a badger busily dragging a pile of hay across the road and through a hedge...we were lucky in that he did not rush his work when we stopped to watch, but was busy making sure every piece of hay went with him back to his set...

i have to say that is one of my most special wildlife memories.