Selby and Goole Badger Watch - telephone us on 0771 1883072
LEARN MORE ABOUT THE EUROPEAN BADGER
(Meles meles)
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The badger, Scientific name: Meles Meles
The word "Iconic" is often used to describe the badger. Easily recognisable by his striking black and white face, the badger has been used in logos for Wildlife Organisations, written about in story books for children such as Wind in the Willows, Bill Badger in Rupert Bear and Tommy Brock in the beautiful Beatrix Potter books. Badgers have featured in Harry Potter and there's several pubs we know of with the name "Fat Badger" !
Without doubt, badgers are one of our most popular and best loved British mammals. Yet despite all this, the badger is also one of our most persecuted animals. Loved by some and loathed by others, the shy, nocturnal badger is fearful of humans and as we will see on another page, with very good reason.
So let's take a closer look and discover more about this intriguing, reclusive and totally amazing creature.
LET'S LOOK AT A FEW BADGER BASICS:-
Male badgers are known as boars, females as sows, and the young are known as cubs.
Badgers are creatures of habit and follow well worn paths even if obstacles are placed in their way.
They live in a family group known as a clan and their home is known as a sett.
Badgers are extremely clean and houseproud animals. They are also shy and with good reason, wary of humans.
A badger's sense of smell is 800 times better than ours
So let's learn a little more about THE BADGER.
SCRATCH MARKS - Look closely at trees in the forest, you may see signs of scratch marks in the tree bark. This is where a badger has been cleaning her claws.
BEDDING - Badgers are clean, houseproud creatures, and will change their bedding regularly, Those who monitor badger setts will often see balls of dry grass and leaves airing in the sunshine. Occasionally, badgers can be seen dragging fresh bedding into the sett, clutching it tightly to their chest and in a comical backwards movement, disappear into the sett.
FURROWS:-
Another tell tale sign of a badger sett in current use, is a furrow which the badgers make as they go in and out of their sett. This furrow should be wide enough for the size of a badger. Look very closely and you may see the distinctive pawprints of a badger in the spoil heap of furrow
LATRINES
Throughout this website, you will read that badgers are clean and houseproud creatures. This goes for their toilet habits too. Badgers will dig a latrine a few inches wide and deep and deposit their droppings in the latrine. Latrines can be "communal" or on territorial boundary paths where this serves to warn badgers from another clan to keep away. Latrines also provide us with the information of what a badger has been eating. For example in Autumn, droppings can be coloured with elderberries or blackberries. the image above shows a fair amount of wheat.
SPOIL HEAPS -
Badgers are prolific diggers and a definite sign that badgers live here are the spoil heaps outside entrance holes. A closer inspection of the excavated earth may reveal badger hair and distinctive pawprints of the badger.
FORAGING - GRUB'S UP !
A badger will search for insects and grubs amongst fallen and rotting wood. With her powerful claws she can easily tear apart this rotten log. Look to the left of the badger's head, a small black beetle is quickly escaping.
PAWPRINTS:-
Badgers have very distinctive pawprints with five toes, long claws which cannot be retracted and a central pad which is often described as "kidney shaped". Depending on the hardness of the earth upon which they are walking, sometimes, only four toes and claws can be seen with the fifth, inner toe and claw, either very faint or missing in the imprint. The image below demonstrates this quite clearly with only four toes and claws being visible.
ENTRANCE HOLE SHAPE
The classic badger sett entrance hole could best be described as a Capital "D" on its side and it has to be wide enough going all the way down into the tunnel for the hefty badger to go down. If you kneel down and peer into the tunnel and it narrows considerably, then it's rabbits living there and not badgers. The sides of the entrance hole may be polished and smooth as the badger's coat brushes against the sides as it enters the sett.
It should be noted that not all entrances to the badger sett are this classic Capital D on its side shape, for example there may be substantial tree roots above the sett or other obstacles. However, whatever shape the entrance is, it has to be big enough for the badger to enter.
NOW LET'S EXPLORE A LITTLE BIT FURTHER INTO THE WONDERFUL WORLD OF THE BADGER
WHO ARE BADGERS RELATED TO?
Badgers are part of the mustelid family, which also includes, otters, pine martens, non-native American mink, polecats, weasels and stoats.
Undeniably, badgers are very different in appearance to the other members of the mustelid family. However, in the image below, the badger's unusual body shape is not dissimilar to that of a weasel or pine marten. This is possibly due to the angle of the camera and is NOT the usual shape or outline of a badger - they are chunky, hefty animals, unlike the sleek, slinky, fast as lightening weasel. What they do have in common however, is the gland under their tail which secretes a musky smell. Badgers use their oily musk to mark each clan member so they all have a common smell which identifies them from intruders.
WHAT DO BADGERS EAT?
Badgers are classed as carnivores, but in reality, they are highly omnivorous and will eat almost anything edible ! They are opportunistic feeders and foragers and not a predator is the same way as a lion or wolf who actually hunt down their prey.
Their main food source, believe it or not, is the earthworm which they suck up like spaghetti, possibly eating 200 worms per night. Badgers will also demolish fallen and rotting wood to look for insects such as beetles and grubs.
They will also eat small mammals, especially the young of rats, mice and rabbits which are easily dug out from their nest by badgers.
In Autumn, when badgers need to fatten up for winter, they will eat fallen fruits, such as plums, apples and pears. Whilst along the hedgerow and trees they will feast on blackberries and elderberries.
In woodland you will often see "snuffle holes" where a badger has been rooting for bulbs and tubers.
Maize and cereal crops are also consumed.
Badgers love honey and wasp grubs and are not deterred by the stings from angry bees.
Carrion (dead animals) such as road kill, shot pigeons and gamebirds are also consumed.
Water is very important to badgers in dry weather, especially badger cubs, and whenever possible we will leave a bowl of plain water at setts with cubs to help the cubs survive during periods of extreme and prolonged dry weather. An upturned dustbin lid also serves this purpose very well and will fill up naturally when it rains. Plus other woodland creatures will also benefit.
Plain peanuts, peanut butter and marmite are often used by humans to attact badgers to a specific area either in their garden or when badger watching in woodland.
THE BADGER'S FAMILY LIFE
HEAD OF THE FAMILY - THE DOMINANT MALE !
Badgers will mate almost all year round, but here's the thing, the sow only gives birth, usually in February, to just one litter of cubs per year.
Why is this you may ask. Well, this is due to an unusual reproductive technique known as "delayed implantation". This technique results in just the one litter being born despite all the shenanigans taking place throughout the year.
Litter size will range from between one to five cubs, but two or three are probably the most common.
The cubs are blind and totally helpless when born in a chamber which the sow has carefully lined with any bedding material which is available. She will gather dry leaves, hay, grass, bracken and straw and drag it down into the sett in preparation for the birth. This bedding ensures the cubs are kept warm during the long, cold winter days until they finally emerge in late Spring and make their first venture above ground at around 12 weeks.
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