Enjoy a peaceful, relaxing, self-catering holiday in a secluded mobile home situated in the heart of the countryside.Spectacular views across Cotswolds and floodlit badger-watching facilities within 50 metres of the accommodation
You will enjoy THE EXCLUSIVE use of our three badger-watch hides during your stay
at College Barn Farm, Sibford Gower, Banbury, Oxfordshire OX15 5RY
The conservation project at College Barn Farm commenced in 1987 when Richard & Sandra Butt bought the farm. It includes the planting of trees and shrubs as well as encouraging and, as far as possible, protecting and preserving the resident wildlife.
Their aim is to establish and sustain a Eight-acre wildlife area containing as many different varieties of trees and wildlife as possible, with badger setts and four ponds included within this area. The provision of mobile-home accommodation and badger-watching facilities for visitors not only helps to fund their conservation project, but also enables other wildlife enthusiasts to share their enjoyment of such. With the help of Badger-Watch visitors, they are able to protect the badgers by observing their setts daily and the badgers most evenings by floodlight from two heated hides and a recently established third hide.
Badger-Watch provides visitors with the opportunity to enjoy a peaceful, relaxing, self-catering holiday in a secluded mobile home situated in the heart of the countryside. They can watch badgers and other wildlife at night by floodlight from a warm hide (exclusively for their own use) which is very conveniently situated only about 50 yards away.
A nosy fox caught on camera at College Barn Farm
During the day there are many other varieties of wildlife, from small birds to grass snakes to roe/fallow/muntjac deer (subject to the season) to be observed at College Barn Farm. One visitor spotted a total of 47 different kinds of birds during her stay, which included kingfishers, woodpeckers, sparrow-hawks, buzzards, kestrels and owls.
About twenty or so badgers, including cubs, currently live in the setts (including an artificial sett) and are regularly viewed – unrestricted by glass – at close range by visitors sitting quietly in the hides.
The main hide, which is heated and can seat four persons, is on ground level at the entrance, but 10ft. above ground on the viewing side where the field below (containing the setts) slopes away. During the winter of 2009 a balcony was added which allows our visitors an elevated view of the badger setts and the surrounding area day and night. Watchers usually leave a trail of peanuts from the setts up to the hide and very soon after dark, the badgers come up for their breakfast. They can be clearly seen as there are two floodlights mounted above the hide. These don’t seem to bother the badgers in any way.
A second hide, which is sunk into the ground and seats three/four is situated by the end of the largest pond. This location provides an unrestricted eye-level view of the badgers from the front of the hide and and a view along two ponds from the side window. Photography flaps are located to the front and side of the hide. This hide is also heated and has two reclining seats and two cushion seats. The third hide, constructed in 2006, is situated further down the badger-field on the extremity of the lower badger sett. It, too, seats three/four persons. (details of the hides including photographs can be seen under wildlife notes 2007)
2012 Notes
Is this Ms Badger shortly to be come Mrs Badger?
I will be setting my camera so that it takes images from ground level upward in about two weeks time in an effort to film the badgers under carriage, in four weeks time it should be fairly obvious if any of the sows have cubs.
2012 Notes
The badger emergence is around 6.15 to 6.45pm alot more badger activity lately with holes appearing in the ground much more frequently where the badgers have dug for leather jackets and other grubs.
Below are a couple of interesting phtographs that I took of cloud formations while out on one of my dog walks recently (click on the image to full size)
2012 Notes
The badger emergence last night started at 6.22pm with 17 images on my stealth camera.
image number 7 is shown first below
image number 15 the dominant boar “lightfoot” visits at 6.17am is next
and last but not least my old friend gangly legs in the last image number 17
2012 Notes
The first badger caught on camera traversing their skyway as sure footed as a cat.
Fortunately no living creature was under that big stone that dropped 12 feet to the ground. I will make sure that cannot happen again.
2012 Notes
Four days of frosty weather!! -5c here last night.
Preceding the frost I was delighted to see 10 teal take off the water when I walked past our largest pond, and 6 mallard duck take off the next pond.
With recent rainfall the pond now has around a foot of water in it . (4 feet to go to the overflow)
The badgers have been changing their bedding over the past week apart from climbing their “skyway” in their search for peanuts.
At the start of the frosty weather I left a little grain out to keep whatever wildlife that found it going, I also put my stealth camera so that it looked over the area for a period of 48 hours during that time a blackbird 2 jays, several moorhens, a crow, a cock pheasant, a Pidgeon two unidentified birds which I think were chaffinches, two rabbits, two hares, a fox and a badger either visited the grain or passed close by setting my camera off 40 times.
I have posted two of the videos below
2012 Notes
Mild weather is still with us which makes life a lot easier for all the wildlife.
I have seen hares once again chasing each other around jumping over each other etc etc they really think it is spring, I think they could be in for a shock
I mounted my stealth camera on top of the new badger “skyway” for a couple of days and below are a couple out of 50 videos that it took, the videos that I have not uploaded contain chaffinches, great tits, robin, jayand a cock pheasant.
the video of a stock dove and a carrion crow
A rear end view of a badger 12 feet up on the “skyway” in total darkness 2.20am.. how do they do it?
2012 Notes
Today was warm and mild for the 9th January, rather unusual to see a Jay today along with a woodpecker,I also heard the woodpecker drumming its beak on a tree on several occasions which is normally a spring pursuit for the wodpecker. With the continuing mild weather I am pleased now that I took the oportunity of the dry mild weathr and reseeded the banks of two of our ponds as the existing grass is making a rapid recovery and the planted grass seed will be chitting. Reseeding is normally carried out March or April in the Spring or August or September in the autumn so there are advantages with unusually mild weather.
We have two hazel nut trees that have not yet lost their leaves and now also have catkins on them. (click on image to full size) I have never known this happen before.
The badger activity is not consistent time wise, sometimes I have them on camera at 8-9pm but more often than not it is around 3am The badger in the video below is one of our regular vistors to the buried peanut container
A very suspicious muntjac came to see us last evening but did not think too much of the camera (see video clip) at least we get t see the “pretty end” of the animal
2012 Notes
A quick look back at last years badger cubs, the photograph was taken by Richard Costin, many thanks to richard for letting us use his photograph of some of last years College Barn Farm badger cubs.
Click on the image to full size.
3 months of age plus College Barn Farm badger cubs
2011 Notes
The last entry for 2011.
A very mild week with a rainy end to the week, fortunately we finished the ground work including reseeding around the ponds and the new “badger skyway” while the soil was dry.
A badger in the image below was the first to scale the entrance to the “skyway” and did so with obvious ease, I will be posting more images as I move the camera around the “skyway” during the early part of 2012.
A jay was picked up on my camera during yesterday along with some chaffinches, (see images below) I often hear jay’s shriek but rarely see them in the woods.
I followed a sparrow hawk in my car this morning at a sedately 30 mph, I have seen them fly a lot fatser than 30 mph paticularly when they are making a kill!
2011 Notes
As 2011 draws to a close it is interesting to me (and hopefully anyone who looks at our website) to look back and see how our conservation project started 20 years ago and how it has progressed todate :
Below are two photographs of our ponds and our artificial sett for comparison.(click on the images to full size them)
The pond 20 years ago
The same pond on 23rd December 2011 (20 years on)
Our artificial badger sett was construted about 20 years ago
The artificial sett 20 years ago
The artificial badger sett today
The artificial badger sett as it is today
A Big Big thank you to all of our hundreds of visitors over the past 20 years who have helped us in many ways to acheive our wildlife sanctuary as it is today.
There was badger activity last night in front of our lower hide with maize cobs and peanuts being taken from mice proof placements.
The mice quickly dispaear when there are badgers around I guess they fear for their lives.
NEW for 2012
We have extended the badger skyway by around 23 metres (see photograph and video below)
The new badger skyway to the ponds
