Raisins are the thing. Its the fact that they are sweet. Once tasted by a badger they will ignore peanuts until all raisins are gone.

They only started digging our lawn up after squirrels started burying peanuts. Untill then no holes at all. Don't forget to leave out water as well. They normally get all their liquid from eating earthworms, so if ground is hard they suffer from lack of water. In a hot dry summer lack of water can kill more than any one other thing.

Let us know how you get on with the tweaks.

Don

Thanks Duncan, have copy & pasted. Today here in Oz in Eastern Victoria it is 38 degree celsius with a hot northerly wind, so winter solstice sounds ok today... regards embe

Night time photography - owls
 

I want to try some night photography of our local owls, however in order to get the camera (Canon 20D + 100-400 L IS + 550EX Flash) to autofocus I need to illuminate the owls. I am thinking of purchasing a head torch as that way it will leave my hands free for the camera.

Before I spend £40 to 60 I was wondering if anyone else had used a head torch and if so what make/light output/bulb type/etc they could recommend.

Thanks,

Robin

Can you use manual focus? If the owls are perched in the same places then you can setup your gear and get the manual focus right using your torch even before the owls get there. If you use a wide aperture, with the resulting large depth of field, you may be able to estimate the range sufficently well.

I purchased a Rolson head torch at a farmers market.cost £10.It has one bright yellow light,and it can be changed to a blue light(3 small bulbs make the blue light and one for the yellow) 4 bulbs in all.Haven't used it yet,it is for the summer when I take shots of the moon across the sea,late in the evening.

Frank, I do understand from a birding collegue that owls regularly use the same perch and so your idea would work, in fact it would probably be better than using a torch directly on the owl, however, at present I am not familair enough with my local owls to know which perches they use. I will try a headtorch to begin with and then try your method when i am more familiar with their regular perches.

Thanks,

Robin