Badger Meles meles

Badgers are protected under the Protection of Badgers Act 1992; it is an offence to wilfully injure, kill or take badgers. The law states that if any work carried out such as tree felling, timber extraction or mechanical cultivation near to a badger sett has the potential to disturb badgers then a licence should be applied for.

To be on the safe side it is best to speak to the local licensing authority as there are vague boundaries regarding ‘safe’ distances from badger setts.

The licencing authority for Norfolk is:


Further information is available from DEFRA, the Forestry Commission, and Natural England.

Badgers will prey on hedgehogs and also compete with them for other prey items such as slugs and worms. However, hedgehogs and badgers have lived in the same habitats for millions of years and there is little evidence suggesting that badgers are contributing to hedgehog decline.

Mammals will take up residence or regularly visit your garden if they can find food, shelter or breeding sites. Good places to look for signs of smaller mammals are in log piles, compost heaps, under piles of stones or bricks and in tall grass or the accumulated leaf litter at the bottom of hedges. Leaving some areas of your garden to go wild and ensuring that they remain undisturbed will make surveying mammals much easier, as it will greatly increase the chances of their taking up residence.

Some mammals will happily live under the garden sheds or outbuildings, where signs of their occupancy may be obvious, and some may even temporarily utilise our homes. Species such as wood mice, bank voles and brown rats can sometimes be seen taking advantage of spilt seed under bird feeders, whereas foxes, hedgehogs and badgers will feast on windfall apples and earthworms on your lawn.

Mammals can be found in your garden at any time of year, although they are likely to be most active between March and October. The peak time for surveying mammals will be in late summer and early autumn when young animals are dispersing. Outside of this time, some species will be hibernating. This should not prevent you from surveying, however, because a lot of mammals will be active all year round; even small mammals will periodically leave their shelters to seek fresh food throughout the winter months.

Most garden mammals (except grey squirrels) will become more active around dusk and at night. Sitting quietly and patiently near to likely feeding stations, or suspected burrows, may enable you to obtain close views. You should position yourself downwind and if you have to illuminate the area, do so with a low intensity torch or one covered with a red filter so as not to alarm the animals.

Using your house as a hide will greatly increase your chances of catching sight of the larger garden visitors such as badgers and deer, although great patience will be required.

Early morning is the best time to look for tracks and droppings before any adverse weather or other activity erases them. Taking photographic images will allow for more leisurely and detailed scrutiny. If you take any photographs it is best to place something of fixed length next to the item to show a relative size; a small ruler with a clearly marked scale is ideal.

Have you taken a photograph of a track, trail or sign and would like help identifying it? Submit your photograph here or e-mail it to us.

When surveying mammals in your garden, there are a number of signs that they have been visiting:

Trails

If mammals are using your garden they may well create clear access points or pathways leading to and from favoured feeding areas. Holes made under fences, fur snagged on wire fences, food dropped along the pathway, scratch marks on trees and maybe the size of the entrance to any burrows will all give clues as to what is present.

Keep track with what’s going on…

Norfolk Wildlife Trust has set up a ‘Tracks, Trails and Signs’ section on the photo gallery. You might just find a photograph that matches your trail, burrow or track.

Tracks

Any mammals using your garden will leave tracks, although these may be hard to spot. If you place some sand (perhaps in a large tray or container) in a shallow pit close to suspected feeding sites or across established trails, any mammals using the area may leave their tracks which you can then identify by use of a good field guide. Muddy margins or garden ponds will also be a good spot to look for tracks.

Step this way…

Have you got an animal footprint you would like help identifying? Check out some common footprints here or submit your photograph online.  Include information on the size of the footprint and where it was taken.

Droppings

The size, shape, colour and consistency of droppings will provide excellent, often conclusive, indicators as to what is using your garden. For example: foxes leave quite large droppings with distinctive tapered ends, whilst hedgehog droppings are shiny and black, and will often contain hard remains of beetles and other invertebrates.

For some droppings you might find in your garden click here.

Eating Habits

Small rodents will readily store supplies of fruit and nuts, and their remains can help you determine the species group responsible. Seeds and nuts are dealt with in very different ways by mice, voles and squirrels, and all three leave quite distinct gnawing patterns.

Foxes have a wide-ranging diet and will sometimes leave conspicuous remains of their meal on your lawn or in your flower-beds. For example, a trail of woodpigeon feathers could well be the work of a fox. They will readily feed on carrion and even dig up shallow-buried remains. Scattered contents of rubbish bags can also be a good indicator of their presence.

Badgers will also dig for food, and holes scratched in your lawn may well the be work of these hungry animals - especially in dry weather, when their prey may be driven deeper underground.

Providing a regular food supply whilst surveying mammals can be a good way of drawing those which you know to be present closer to your house. Placing kitchen scraps, small amounts of meat-based cat or dog food (but not fish, which upsets the digestive system of some mammals), fruit, seeds, peanuts and especially mealworms on a patio or on the lawn during the evening is sure to attract hedgehogs, foxes, small mammals and, if you are particularly fortunate, perhaps a badger.

You can even create a purpose built mammal feeding station close to your house so you can observe in comfort. A word of warning – if you wish to avoid attracting brown rats you should not leave the food out all night.

There are so many reasons!

• Your records can help identify areas which are especially important for wildlife in your local area.
• They can provide up-to-date information on local wildlife and identify changes which may be linked to climate change, or factors such as local developments or new farming practices.
• They can help identify areas that local people feel should be protected.
• They can provide information which will help management and enhancement of local areas to benefit wildlife.
• You can create a baseline record which will enable future changes to be monitored.
• They can help identify species in decline or under threat.
• They can identify the sites of rare species and enable them to be protected – some species such as badgers, bats, water voles, great crested newts and rare nesting birds have existing legal protection, but if no one knows where they are then they can’t be protected.
• Wildlife records can be used to encourage local awareness, interest and pride in things that make your area special.
• They can help inform local conservation policies and may be relevant information if future developments are proposed or planning applications made.
• Surveys can be the starting point for future community conservation projects which will help celebrate and protect the wildlife and habitats you discover.

Recording is enjoyable and can be addictive! It is a way to further your enjoyment of wildlife in your local area and once you start recording you will almost certainly notice far more that you did before. It can also be a way of getting to know your local area better, meeting other people interested in wildlife and forming or joining a group to share and develop your identification skills and knowledge of wildlife. getting started