Pest Control
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Badgers are powerful, mostly nocturnal animals, and a family of them can turn a lawn over in a night. They are not rare, but they and their setts have their own protection in law, which shapes everything you can do about them.
Signs that badgers are visiting
Badgers come out after dark, so you rarely see them, but they leave plenty of evidence.
- Holes in the lawn. Badgers feed mainly on earthworms and also dig for grubs such as leatherjackets and chafer larvae. They leave small, shallow, cone-shaped scrapes, or roll back strips of turf.
- Dung pits. Badgers use latrines: small, shallow pits with droppings left in them, often near the edge of their territory or along a boundary.
- Pushed-under fences. A regular gap under a fence or hedge, with a worn path either side, is often a badger route. You may find coarse grey and black hairs caught on wire or the bottom of the fence.
- Raided food. Fallen fruit, bird food, pet food and bins can all be taken.
- Footprints. Broad prints with five toes and long claw marks in soft ground.
Foxes, squirrels and some birds also dig in lawns, so it is worth confirming what you have before deciding what to do.
What the law says
Badgers are protected because of a long history of persecution, not because they are endangered. Under the Protection of Badgers Act 1992, it is an offence to:
- wilfully kill, injure or take a badger, or attempt to
- cruelly ill-treat a badger
- damage or destroy a sett, or obstruct access to it
- disturb a badger while it is occupying a sett
- send a dog into a sett, or dig for badgers
A sett is protected while it shows signs of current use, even if no badger is in it at that moment. Some activities that would otherwise be offences can be carried out under a licence from Natural England, for example where building work, or serious damage to property, cannot be avoided. Licences are not issued lightly, and the work they allow is closely controlled.
In practice, this means there is no "removal" option for badgers. Nobody, including a pest control company, can trap them, move them or close up a sett without the right licence.
What you can do
- Remove the attraction. Pick up fallen fruit, keep bird food off the ground, feed pets indoors and keep bins secure.
- Deal with lawn grubs. A lawn full of leatherjackets or chafer grubs is a food source. Treating the grubs, with nematodes for example, often reduces the digging. Keeping the lawn well drained and less damp can help too.
- Fence carefully. A sturdy fence with wire mesh buried below ground level can keep badgers out of a garden or a vegetable patch. It must not block access to a sett, and if a sett is on or close to your property, take advice before doing any work near it.
- Be patient with the season. Digging is often worst in dry spells, when worms are deeper, and in spring and autumn when grubs are near the surface.
Do not try to block a hole you think may be a sett, use dogs, or use anything intended to harm or drive out badgers.
Is there a sett on your land?
A badger sett is a group of large holes, each wider than it is tall, usually with big spoil heaps of earth outside and often with old bedding (dry grass and leaves) dragged out. If you think there is a sett in your garden, or you are planning building work, an extension or groundworks nearby, contact Natural England for advice before starting.
When to call us
We cannot remove badgers, and nobody should offer to without a licence. What we can do is visit, confirm whether the damage is badgers or something else, such as rats burrowing under a shed or decking, and talk you through lawful ways to reduce it. Get in touch or call 01926 632 929.