Badger - Meles meles

Badgers have a characteristic black and white striped face with small white-tipped ears and grey body, though their fur can become stained by the local soil. The Badger is a stocky animal, being about 75 cm in length (from head to tail), once fully grown.  The body is wedge-shaped and is carried on short but immensely strong legs. The muscles of the forelimbs and neck are particularly well developed.

Adult , Sett , Latrine , Paw prints

Paw prints - 5 toes but thumb usually not visible, large central pad and four toes general in alignment and one or more claws present in soft ground.

Latrine - found in one or more shallow depressions and can be quite extensive when used to mark their territory.  Consistency and colour of faeces will vary with diet

Setts: several types depending on their use, but generally holes are large, D-shaped entrances which extend underground quite steeply, usually with a mound of spoil/soil at the entrance where earth has been excavated, not often found where ground is flat

Good quality photograph and description required for field signs but care required to not disturb the sett (avoid walking over or near to sett entrance as may cause collapse or deter use)

Deciduous woods, spinneys and hedgerows are the most usual locations for setts - especially if this is near open cultivated land.

Badgers are also common in urban areas where they readily visit gardens and parks, and live under sheds or large compost areas and other undisturbed areas

All year round - they do not hibernate but females and cubs spend more time in their setts over winter when young are born. Badgers generally emerge at dusk and will feed until dawn

Badgers live in groups, sharing a sett (this consists of several underground chambers where the badger sleeps and breeds). Setts are handed down like family houses from generation to generation, and the badger uses the same sett year after year. Mortality is high, with perhaps half of all badgers dying each year. Road traffic accidents with motor vehicles are a major cause of death. The maximum life expectancy of a badger is about 14 years, though very few survive so long in the wild. There are usually 2 or three cubs in a litter but just one is not unusual. Birth is synchronized so all pregnant females in the clan give birth in December - January. Weaning usually begins when the cubs are at least three months old, when they feed on solid food, particularly earthworms and berries in season.

Widespread across England and Wales with fewer in Scotland. 

Common in Leicestershire and Rutland.