Destruction

( Lots more pictures below, they can be viewed properly by switching from the crappy new flickr to a foreign language )

 

This is part of the disused railway where a tractor went along with hedge cutting equipment and destroyed all the vegetation within about 20 feet of the train tracks, going over dozens of holes many of which were dug by badgers. Loads of them are now blocked with vegetation and many have collapsed completely, they could have badgers including tiny cubs trapped underground. Obviously it's illegal to disturb a badger sett nevermind collapse it's entrances, I don't know whether this section has active badger setts but near that bridge in the distance they definitely look active. Because the railway is as far as I know ( at the moment ) unused it seems badgers have dug holes closer to the line than they would with an active railway. However my dad tells me that there is an organisation that are planning to reopen this stretch and join it to the existing great central steam railway ( it's only about half a mile from Loughborough ) so presumably it was them that employed the person in the tractor to do this. I need to go back and climb the embankments to get closer views of what look like substantial badger setts that have collapsed and get some better pictures. I'll then contact our local badger group to ask for advice, I don't know how anyone could possibly come along here in a tractor and not notice the dozens of holes there. It's possible but unlikely that they may have been given licenses to ' relocate ' any badgers or ( even more unlikely ) been given a license to actually kill them, if they were I'm pretty sure they wouldn't have been allowed to do it in April when there could be tiny cubs underground. Perhaps not surprisingly this would be good news for farmers with fields adjacent to the railway that have cows in them. I didn't go any further along the track than this but the destruction definitely goes well beyond that bridge ( there's a footpath nearby ). There are parts where it looks like they've used wood chipping machines and a small fire by the tracks. I know I'm always on about ' issues ' but that's because I come across a lot of them, I'm not prepared to let people get away with things like this.

 

PLEASE if anyone has any info about the railway expansion or advice about what to do let me know, even though the prospect of having to meet some stranger from the Badger Trust or the police or whatever terrifies me I don't want this to go un-reported.

Done