Badgers are nocturnal animals living in underground chambers which are connected by a network of tunnels known as a sett. They live in close social groups each of which has its own clearly defined territorial boundary.

© Dorset Badger Group

Their diet consists largely of earthworms and insects, cereals and fruit with a few birds and small mammals. Their hearing and sense of smell in particular are very well developed but their eyesight is poor. Although mating can occur at any time of year, due to delay implantation of the fertilised embryo most cubs are born during February.

The cubs grow quickly and first appear above ground at about the end of April or the beginning of May. By July they are almost as big as the adults.

For more info please see this Fact Sheet from the Mammal Society.

Badger signs

From late winter to early spring (December to March) is the best time to look for badger setts. The lack of vegetation generally means that the setts, with their conspicuous spoil heaps, will show up well from a distance. Setts in hedgerows will also be more visible. Good places to start looking are:

	Hillsides especially where there are small copses, gorse thickets and dips in the ground where soil is exposed.
	Hedgerows, especially at junctions where 2 or more hedges join.
	Stream banks.
	Any man-made banks of earth including railway embankments and roadsides.
	Abandoned buildings especially under concrete floors and old walls.

When exploring large woods it is best to explore around the edges first. Badgers prefer to be near a variety of feeding grounds and the sett is likely to have easy access to woodland, arable fields and pasture.

© Dorset Badger Group	Footprints: Badger footprints are very broad and have a kidney shaped heel with 5 toes, although often only 4 make an impression. Their stride is about half a metre.
© Dorset Badger Group	Badger paths: Near an occupied badger sett there is usually a system of paths, about 20cm wide and very well marked. They can often be seen on either side of a road or a track or under a boundary fence.
	Badger hair: Where a path passes under barbed wire, badger hair can often be seen. The guard hairs are stiff and wiry in texture, white at the base, dark in the middle, and pale at the tapered tip. The shaft of the hair has an angular feel when rolled between fingers.
	Scratching posts: You may find a tree near a main sett which has been used by the badgers for scratching. The bark becomes scored by the badgers’ claws up to a height of about a meter and can be stained with mud.
© Steve Jackson	Smell of used entrances: Badgers have a pleasant musky aroma which is sometimes quiet strong around a sett.
© Steve Jackson	Snuffle holes: One of the most distinctive feeding signs is the snuffle hole, these are small pits drilled typically a few centimetres deep in areas of short grass, in pursuit of earthworms.
© Dorset Badger Group	Dung pits and latrines Dung pits are scooped holes in the ground. A group of dung pits is called a latrine. The contents of the dung pits are often a mass of finely chewed material with mud left over from digested earth worms. Sometimes they contain insect casings and in late summer, cereals and seeds.
© Dorset Badger Group	Spoil heaps: Outside the sett entrance holes you will often find a spoil heap of excavated earth which may contain bedding material (straw, hay and other vegetation), badger hair, skulls and other animal remains, rocks bearing claw marks and rarely ‘clay balls’. Where the earth is particularly sticky, these rock like balls are formed by badgers rolling earth around.
© Dorset Badger Group	Sett entrances: A badger sett entrance is usually dome shaped. They are not less than 25 cm across and are typically 30-35 cm. Badger tunnels usually dip down from the entrance and they curve up as they disappear from view. Sometimes a sett entrance has a deep, well worn furrow over the spoil heap where badgers are constantly coming and going.

Please see this file from the Badger Trust for badger watching tips.

Badgers and the law

The badger has been a protected species for a number of year and now as a result of the “Protection of Badgers Act 1992”, it is an offence to interfere with a badger sett.

	By damaging or destroying it or part of it.
	By allowing a dog to enter a sett.
	By disturbing a badger occypying a sett.
	By obstructing entrances.