Badgers

Georgesgran They dig big holes in the lawn, and our garden now looks an absolute shambles. Are you prepared for that?

JamesandJon33

Yes DH thinks chafer grubs. We shall get some nematodes I think, which will negate them.
Thank you all for your interest.

They will also target hedgehogs and eat them, prickly though they are, so be careful if you have any hedgehogs around.

We occasionally get them in our very small back garden. I’m always pleased to see them. Yes, they do scratch up the turf, but we’ve always found it easy enough to replace.

I've got mixed feeling when it comes to badgers. We have lots around us, don't often see them except for bodies on the roads but many of the footpaths are littered with setts. It's devastating for farmers who find TB in their herd. Apart from the car, they have no natural predators and IMO they do need to be culled on a regular basis. Not a popular view but you might feel different if you were a dairy farmer!

A couple of years ago a huge male badger managed to get itself trapped in my garden. During its frantic efforts to find its escape, it caused an unbelievable amount of damage. Broken greenhouse and shelving, plants ripped up and utterly destroyed beyond saving, several fence panels shredded with such force that the nails in the sides of the panels were found 8 feet away. The trails of inky black poo criss crossing the garden and paths were stomach churning in their stench. I was advised by a countryside Ranger that, once a badger has found a good source of food, like the contents of your greenhouse and garden, it will return and the best way to stop them is to reinforce boundary fences securely and spray around the original entrance points with something badgers detest i.e. male urine. Female urine will not deter them apparently. So, I invited my DS and a couple of his friends and neighbours to come and urinate along my fence! It seems to have worked because, although 2 of my neighbours have been visited by Mr Badger since, I have not.

Georgesgran

Strangely (and I’m willing to be told otherwise) badgers are rare around here in Durham. I’m 75 and have only ever seen one live animal. Both DDs in their 40’s have only seen the same dead one on a back road near Newcastle airport.
We’d love to have badgers and I’d be happy for them to forage in my garden.

@Georgesgran. I live in Durham City and we have badgers. The lawn at the moment is dug up. We used to have badger watching parties when the children were young.

I confess I’m quite surprised by how many people on here dislike badgers. They’re one of my favourite animals, particularly since I tried to help a barely alive female, badly injured and lying in the road after some heartless subhuman drove into her and didn’t even bother to stop to see whether she was dead. A local rescue picked her up and tried to save her but unfortunately she had lost the use of her legs and had to be euthanised. They saw that she was lactating and volunteers set up watch for her cubs but without success. I learned a lot about them from the rescue and from my local Badgers Group. I had no idea of the efforts they go to to monitor sets and help injured badgers. Since then I always check badgers lying in the road as to whether they are actually dead (they’re tough little things) and, if female, whether they are lactating. I’m sad that not everyone likes or values our local wildlife.

Allira

JamesandJon33

Yes DH thinks chafer grubs. We shall get some nematodes I think, which will negate them.
Thank you all for your interest.

They will also target hedgehogs and eat them, prickly though they are, so be careful if you have any hedgehogs around.

I did think that they targeted hibernating hedgehogs but just read that they only tend to target them at times of drought so it’s important at such times to put water out for animals and birds.

nightowl

I confess I’m quite surprised by how many people on here dislike badgers. They’re one of my favourite animals, particularly since I tried to help a barely alive female, badly injured and lying in the road after some heartless subhuman drove into her and didn’t even bother to stop to see whether she was dead. A local rescue picked her up and tried to save her but unfortunately she had lost the use of her legs and had to be euthanised. They saw that she was lactating and volunteers set up watch for her cubs but without success. I learned a lot about them from the rescue and from my local Badgers Group. I had no idea of the efforts they go to to monitor sets and help injured badgers. Since then I always check badgers lying in the road as to whether they are actually dead (they’re tough little things) and, if female, whether they are lactating. I’m sad that not everyone likes or values our local wildlife.

I confess I’m quite surprised by how many people on here dislike badgers

I'm not sure that posters are saying they dislike badgers. They are fascinating creatures but can be disruptive if they get into suburban gardens.
And murder hedgehogs!

The problem is that we have built on a lot of their habitats so they are encroaching on ours.

MayBee70

Allira

JamesandJon33

Yes DH thinks chafer grubs. We shall get some nematodes I think, which will negate them.
Thank you all for your interest.

They will also target hedgehogs and eat them, prickly though they are, so be careful if you have any hedgehogs around.

I did think that they targeted hibernating hedgehogs but just read that they only tend to target them at times of drought so it’s important at such times to put water out for animals and birds.

I wonder if it's not so much the water they need to drink or rather the fact that earthworms tend to come to the surface when it rains but not in periods of drought and the badgers are hungry.

If we put mealworms out for badgers, which they love, that would risk the hedgehogs eating them and mealworms aren't good for hedgehogs, they can make them very ill.

Can't win!

Yes. I think it’s because of worms and slugs. I remember going for a walk down a local lane a few years ago just after it had rained and walking towards me were a fox and a badger. I assume that they were neighbours as they seemed quite happy in each others company.

Nightowl I certainly don't dislike badgers or any other wild creature but I am aware that humans disrupt the ecosystems that help to maintain healthy populations. When I moved to this rural area 25 years ago, I rarely saw dead badgers on the road, we did not have any deer, there were lots of rabbits and hares were a rare sight. We always had a fox or two visiting. Now dead badgers, deer and sadly hares are frequently found dead on the road. Muntjac and roe deer in particular are becoming a problem, no one wants to hit one but unlit narrow lanes are not ideal territory for deer. I rarely see a fox because they've moved closer to the little town where there are easy food sources. Most of the rabbits have been wiped out by disease but will no doubt make a return. Nearly all of the dairy herds have gone, they couldn't survive TB outbreaks and low milk prices. I understand that badgers (and bats for that matter) needed protection but I'm not sure they do now to the same extent.

The first time I saw them was after I had thrown a lot of buttered crusts on the (very small) back lawn, after making a bread and butter pudding. Obviously intended for the birds, but two fully grown badgers were later there, woffling around and hoovering them all up!

Another time I was sitting outside on a warm night, close to the house, with quiet music playing, when a pair of them arrived and woffled around the garden, coming within a yard or two of me, but evidently unaware of my presence or completely unbothered by it.

Cardamom

A couple of years ago a huge male badger managed to get itself trapped in my garden. During its frantic efforts to find its escape, it caused an unbelievable amount of damage. Broken greenhouse and shelving, plants ripped up and utterly destroyed beyond saving, several fence panels shredded with such force that the nails in the sides of the panels were found 8 feet away. The trails of inky black poo criss crossing the garden and paths were stomach churning in their stench. I was advised by a countryside Ranger that, once a badger has found a good source of food, like the contents of your greenhouse and garden, it will return and the best way to stop them is to reinforce boundary fences securely and spray around the original entrance points with something badgers detest i.e. male urine. Female urine will not deter them apparently. So, I invited my DS and a couple of his friends and neighbours to come and urinate along my fence! It seems to have worked because, although 2 of my neighbours have been visited by Mr Badger since, I have not.

You could offer their paid services to others🤭

MayBee70

Yes. I think it’s because of worms and slugs. I remember going for a walk down a local lane a few years ago just after it had rained and walking towards me were a fox and a badger. I assume that they were neighbours as they seemed quite happy in each others company.

I have seen the same thing on nature tv programmes, they seem an unlikely duo but it happens, food source sharing?

They often live together as neighbours I believe.

MayBee70

They often live together as neighbours I believe.

Foxes and Badgers do compete for food, both will scavenge and kill for food, but leave each other alone, the Fox is much faster, a Badger is much stronger and would win any fight over food.

Badgers are known to get into fox dens to kill the kits. They'll also fight foxes over food or territory. They are also usually infested with parasites that can be dangerous to humans. I would not encourage them into my garden especially if I had children using it to play.

All wild animals and birds are infested with parasites and carry all sorts of diseases, the concept of hygiene does not exist.

Hedgehogs and badgers are full of fleas.
I like hedgehogs much more than badgers as they do only good in gardens.

David49

All wild animals and birds are infested with parasites and carry all sorts of diseases, the concept of hygiene does not exist.

Of course they are, David they are "wild" and should be left to live in the wild, not fed in gardens like domestic pets.