What is a Badger Survey?
What is a Badger Survey?
Badger surveys may be required to support a planning application or when a badger sett is discovered during development works or vegetation clearance. This post gives details of why a badger survey may be needed, what it involves, and what to expect if badgers are found on your site.
To arrange a badger survey with Ecology by Design, click here.
Badger ecology and behaviour
Badger (Meles meles) is a native UK species with a widespread distribution. According to this 2017 report, there are an estimated 485,000 wild badgers in the UK[1]. Their setts, which range in size depending on their use, can be found in any habitat including woodlands, hedgerows and scrub, and within urban environments in sports fields and back gardens. Often the sett will be dug into a raised bank, such as railway embankments, and away from wet ground.
Badgers are active all year, but activity decreases over winter. Cubs are born in February and start to forage independently by July, feeding on fruits, berries as well as earthworms and small invertebrates.
Badger setts are complex structures, and there are different types of setts used for different purposes. Main setts have many entrance holes and are in use daily (dependent on the time of year). This is the sett where breeding takes place. Annex setts are often associated with main setts and are connected to the main sett by clear paths. Subsidiary setts are usually a fair distance from the main sett without connecting paths, usually having less than 5 holes and used infrequently. Outlier setts are often limited to one or two holes which are used infrequently and are often a great distance from the main sett without any obvious linking paths. Badgers live in social groups whose territories do not overlap, and they mark their territory by the placement of latrines.
Badger surveys from licensed ecologists
How are badgers protected?
The Protection of Badgers Act was passed in 1992, with the primary aim of preventing cruel treatment of badgers and destruction of setts, however this has had implications for developments where badgers are present. It is an offence to wilfully kill, injure or take a badger (or attempt to do so), cruelly ill-treat, dig for a badger, or sell or possess any part of a badger. It is also an offence to damage, destroy, obstruct access to or cause a dog to enter a sett, or disturb a badger when it is occupying a sett, or intend to do so, or to be reckless as to whether actions would have any of those consequences. Penalties include fines up to £5000, and/or 6-month custodial sentences.
What is a badger survey?
Most badger surveys consist of two elements: a walkover survey to search for evidence of badgers on site, and a survey to monitor any setts for signs of activity. These surveys can be conducted at any time of year but are best conducted between February and April or September to November, as these are the times when setts are less likely to be obscured by vegetation and badgers are most active. In many instances, evidence of badgers will be identified during a Preliminary Ecological Appraisal. Evidence includes:
· Active setts complete with spoil heaps and clearly defined paths;
· Discarded bedding outside sett entrances;
· Trails and footprints;
· Latrines and droppings;
· Signs of feeding, such as snuffle holes;
· Badger hairs caught on fences and bramble;
· Scratch marks on trees close to the sett; and
· Push throughs where badgers have created tunnels through dense scrub and hedgerows.
Badger setts can be distinguished from rabbit warrens and fox earths through the following key features:
· Badger setts are large, with entrance holds rounded on top and flat at the base, like the letter D on its side;
· Badger tunnels remain wide down their length, whereas a rabbit warren will narrow quickly if the entrance hole is large;
· Rabbit droppings are often present outside the entrance hole on top of the spoil heap, whereas badgers use latrines away from the sett.
In some instances, rabbits, foxes or other mammals will take over disused badger setts, and therefore it may not be clear which species is using the sett. Sett monitoring is used to determine what species is using the sett. If badgers are present, sett monitoring will enable the sett to be classified as either a main, annex, subsidiary or outlier sett. Classifying the sett is an important step in determining the level of mitigation required.
Sett monitoring is conducted over a period of 3-4 weeks and involves the use of camera traps being set up to record badgers entering and leaving the sett. Sand can be laid outside the sett to record badger footprints, and sticks wrapped with sticky tape will catch badger hairs.
What do I do if I have badgers on my site?
In the first instance, you should attempt to avoid any impacts, through changing working methods or changing the site design. If this is not possible, a mitigation strategy must be devised, and a licence sought from Natural England. The licence will allow work to be carried out which would otherwise be illegal, but will only permit works to take place between July and November as this is the least sensitive time of year for badger.
If works are due to impact a sett, then the sett must be closed and an alternative sett identified. If there are subsidiary or annex setts available then these may be used, although bait-marking surveys may be required to ensure that the setts all belong to the same social group since badgers are territorial. If there are no alternative setts, an artificial sett must be provided. A period of monitoring is required to ensure that badgers have moved into their alternative sett prior to sett closure. Once works are complete any closed setts must be re-opened (if they have not been completely removed).
Other considerations include the continued access of badgers to suitable foraging habitat, and measures to prevent badgers from crossing roads, such as fencing.
TOP TIP: The best time to find setts is in the winter months, as there will be less surrounding vegetation.
Ecology by Design have many years’ worth of experience in conducting badger surveys. You can contact us and reach out to our team today about a badger survey. Our experienced staff are all members of the Chartered Institute of Ecology and Environmental Management. Our team will navigate you through every aspect of your project, so you are guaranteed the highest quality of survey.
FAQs
What do I do if I find a badger sett?
If you have found a badger sett during site clearance works, or identified holes in your garden, immediately stop works and contact an ecologist to conduct a badger survey. This will determine whether it is a badger sett, whether it is active and whether it is occupied by badgers.
How close can you work to a badger sett?
Badger setts can extend for 20m underground and so to be safe a 30m working distance should be maintained. Any closer and works involving digging or breaking ground are likely to require a licence. It is recommended that an ecologist is consulted, as there may be other sett entrances hidden in dense vegetation closer to your works area than the sett entrance that you have identified.
[1] Judge, J., Wilson, G.J., Macarthur, R. et al. Abundance of badgers (Meles meles) in England and Wales. Sci Rep 7, 276 (2017). https://doi.org/10.1038/s41598-017-00378-3