A badger retreating across the patio tonight

I was sitting at my desk late this evening after watching the England football team win their first World Cup match, when I heard telltale scuffling noises. I immediately sensed that a badger was outside the back door scrabbling about for food titbits. 

This morning I spotted that the compost heap had been visited and turned over by an animal, and I immediately guessed it was a badger. They love the small worms that you get in compost heaps. They also find them under flowerpots and I expect that in the morning I may find a few pots turned over on the area outside our sliding doors or on the steps down to the patio.

By the time I'd found my small camera which has a a small onboard flash I thought the badger would have gone.  But as I slid the back door open I could hear it snuffling away quite close but couldn't see it was pitch black. In fact Helena who joined me thought there may have been two of them. She says that she had put out some peanuts today in a pot for the squirrels to eat. I'm not sure I'm in favour of encouraging them.

I walked down the first flight of steps and pointed the camera towards the garden, tried to get a random focus and took a picture. You can just see the back of the badger moving away on the patio at the bottom of the steps. I was delighted to see them back as I hadn't seen or heard them in the garden for ages, possibly a year or two. I expect they will be back.