Badgers are an icon of the great British wildlife – they’re our mustelid mascot, and The Wildlife Trusts are proud champions of these playful powerhouses. While not everyone gets to see them in person due to their nocturnal nature (though my husband recently saw two while out on an early morning run!), we can all appreciate the benefits they provide to their local habitats.

Badgers live together in social groups known as clans, typically made up of our four to seven individuals. Found across the UK, they like a mixture of woodland and open country habitats and live in fascinating underground burrows and tunnels known as setts. Each badger clan will have a main sett and then several smaller outlying setts, with the main one acting as their ‘headquarters’ where they spend most of their time and raise their cubs.

It's the creation of these setts and the “chores” which badgers perform (such as airing out and changing their bedding – check out our social media post for more on that!) that make them so brilliant for biodiversity.

Giving byrophytes a boost

A study found that bryophyte (mosses, liverworts, hornworts) diversity is greater in and around badger setts. This is most likely due to the soil disturbance badgers cause, with their digging behaviour sited as an important factor in the shaping of bryophyte communities. In this study, of the 55 byrophyte species recorded, almost half of them were found exclusively on burrows! This will provide important shelter and food for many marvellous minibeasts.

As well as creating space for masses of moss, badgers also provide nutrients through soil turnover and latrine creation. By stimulating the natural vegetation, they encourage plant diversity – more excellent news for insects!

When badgers dig to build their setts, the heaps they leave behind retain moisture better than the surrounding areas. This can provide homes for our amphibian friends who need moisture, as well as invertebrates and even pollinators, whose are essential for a thriving ecosystem.

Communal creatures

Not only does the act of creating and maintaining a sett do wonders for wildlife, but badger setts themselves also provide safe refuge for other animals. Various mammals such as foxes, rabbits, wood mice, voles and even pine martens have been known to occupy setts, with multiple species able to harmoniously co-exist in one sett at the same time.

As well as shelter, setts create a stable thermal environment which provide a range of species a safe space to raise their young – something needed all the more as we continue to face the worsening impacts of extreme weather conditions caused by the climate crisis.

Why badgers need our protection

It’s clear to see that badgers are brilliant for biodiversity. Historical persecution means they are now fully protected by law, helping the UK population to roughly double since the 1980s. However, there are concerns by some that badgers are responsible for spreading bovine tuberculosis to cattle. This has led to badger culls taking place in areas across the UK. 

As part of The Wildlife Trusts, we are very conscious of the hardship that bovine tuberculosis (bTB) causes in the farming community and the need to find the right mechanisms to control the disease. However, we believe that a badger cull is not the answer. The scientific evidence demonstrates that culling is likely to be ineffective in fighting the disease and, worse still, risks making the problem even worse. We believe the emphasis of all our efforts should be to find a long-term solution and we call for the UK Government to commit to ending the culling of badgers.