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BADGER SURVEY
At Castell Ecology we have extensive experience of surveying for Badger and mitigating the impacts of development activity. Any evidence of Badger activity will usually be detected during our Preliminary Ecological Appraisal which will help inform the need for any further survey work or mitigation.

Our Badger experience extends to working at large sites with multiple social groups that have required on-going survey including sett monitoring with trail cameras, bait marking (territory mapping), establishing appropriate development exclusion zones and precautionary working methods, sett exclusion, successful artificial sett design and construction, foraging habitat enhancement and the provision of tunnels under roads.

It is possible to survey for Badger all year but winter, when vegetation is less dense, is the optimal period to do so. For more information please see our Survey Calendar >>>
Badger Ecology

Badgers are common and widespread throughout most of Britain and occupy a broad range of habitats including urban areas and former industrial areas (“brownfield sites”). They are mainly nocturnal, spending daylight hours beneath ground in their burrow known as a “sett”, which they can dig with remarkable speed.

Badgers have a marked preference for areas of mixed habitat with woodland and pastures on soils in which it is easy to dig their setts. They feed mainly on earthworms but are highly adaptable depending on the seasonal availability of food. Most badgers in Britain live in social groups of 5-12 animals known as “clans”. Each clan defends a territory that will usually include more than one sett. Badgers travel around their territory by a network of pathways which are marked periodically by latrines, especially at the territory boundary.
Legal Protection

Badgers and their setts are legally protected by the Protection of Badgers Act 1992. With regard to development, it is an offence to kill or injure a Badger; damage or destroy a Badger sett or obstruct access to it, or to disturb a Badger in it. The Act permits the granting of a licence to take or to interfere with setts in certain circumstances.

If the presence of badgers is confirmed at an early stage, sett disturbance and other impacts can usually be avoided through design and by establishing protection zones around the sett entrances during the construction phase. If impacts on a sett are unavoidable the works must be carried out under a license obtained from the relevant statutory body, e.g. Natural England.
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