What do you know about BADGERS?

The British badger (meles meles) has been described as the oldest land-owner in the country. Some setts have been established and left undisturbed for over a hundred years!

Badgers are social animals and live in groups, led by the dominant female.

A few facts about badgers and their lifestyle:

Apart from their distinctive face pattern, the hair of a badger is grey.
Size:	a fully-grown male badger can be 3 foot long, including the tail.
Food:	badgers prefer to eat earthworms, but will take beetles, eggs, anything!
Lifespan :	the average lifespan for a wild badger is approx. 5 - 8 years.
Cubs:	2 to 3 cubs are usually born around February, but emerge from the sett in April or May.
Senses:	badgers have poor eyesight, but acute hearing and sense of smell.
Lifestyle:	badgers are nocturnal, but occasionally may be seen during the day.
Setts:	for their setts, badgers prefer sandy, diggable land, preferably in woodland, but setts occur in many different places.
Above ground:	a group of badgers has a territory which varies with the availability of food; the more plentiful, the smaller the territory needs to be. On foraging expeditions badgers follow well-trodden paths which sometimes cross roads, hence the number of road traffic deaths.
Underground:	a well-established sett may have up to 12 entrances leading to a maze of underground passages and chambers for sleeping and raising cubs.
Housekeeping:	badgers are clean animals and regularly drag out soiled straw bedding and replace with fresh straw, hay or dead bracken.
Domestic badgers:	badgers may come into your garden if food is put out regularly.
REMEMBER! Badgers are protected animals. It is an offence to interfere with a badger or its sett.