Wednesday 6th October is National Badger Day, a day to celebrate, learn about and potentially help one of the British Isles, oldest native wildlife species.
Badger: Ben Andrew (rspb-images.com)
They are our largest land-living carnivore that can live up to 14 years in the wild in a family group of 3 -14 individuals. Their setts can be quite extensive covering distances underground of anything from around 20 to 100 meters and some are reputed to be over 100 years old; shared by generations of badgers!
Both male (the boar) and female (the sow) badgers have black and white striped faces with grey bodies so can be difficult to tell apart from a distance; the males tend to be bigger and generally more stocky and chunky looking than the females who produce just one litter of usually 2-5 cubs a year.
Through the autumn, they feed themselves up on earthworms which constitutes about 50% of their diet, plus windfall fruit, carrion, insects, rabbits, rats, mice and hedgehogs, frogs, vegetables, blackberries, nuts oats and wheat grains... quite a varied diet! They put on fat reserves to help them through the winter when food is less plentiful and to sustain them should they need to stay sleeping for a week or two inside the sett when it's severely cold. They don't fully hibernate like other mammals for the entire winter as they do venture out to feed and toilet when the weather's reasonable.
Signs of badger life not only include footprint tracks but also little holes dug out in groups or lines where they defecate called latrines. These will be a few meters away from the setts which they like to keep clean! There are tips from Countryfile online on how to spot badgers plus more from the Badger Trust on the fascinating lives of badgers.
Photo: Michael Harvey (rspb-images.com)
The distressing reality about the UK badger population is that it's being greatly diminished by the UK badger cull in an attempt to control bovine Tuberculosis (bTB) but it's hugely controversial as to whether badgers really are the main cause of the problem. You can find out more and take action against the cull for badgers with suggestions from the Badger trust on their can the cull page including how to order action packs, support the badger trust's work and how to write to your M.P.
If you'd like to support badgers in your local vicinity, you might like to offer some supplementary food. The wildlife trusts recommend feeding badgers:
There is lots of helpful information from the RSPCA including what to do if you find an ill or injured badger and our closest local badger groups to contact are Essex Badger Protection Group in the Witham area and North East Essex Badger group in the Braintree area.
Wildlife aid foundation also answer lots of questions about how help badgers in distress.
When you're trying to create a beautiful garden or a pristine lawn, badgers can become a real problem in gardens so the Badger Trust have put together some useful advice on badgers in the garden and there's more from Gardening knowhow on how to deter badgers from the garden.
Although they are not a rare species in the UK, there is no denying the thrill of spotting a wild badger, usually at dusk or in the dark. Perhaps you'll be lucky on National Badger day!
For inspiration on wildlife gardening, the Flatford Wildlife Garden, is currently open every day until 2nd November from 10.30am – 4.30pm. Entrance to the garden is free and well-behaved dogs on leads are welcome. Car parking is £5 at the Flatford National Trust car park and this gives you access to the stunning countryside walks around Flatford and Dedham Vale in Constable Country.