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Flies and steam

In the warmer months of the year, flies buzzing in and out of sett entrances are evidence indicating that the sett is in use. This does not not necessarily mean that the sett is use by badgers of course. You will need to look for other evidence to confirm this.

On cold winter mornings, when summer flies are long gone, you may see another sign indicating that a sett is inhabited, in the form of steam rising from sett entrances. This is caused by the condensation of moisture in warm air issuing from the sett into the cold winter air. The warm, moist air is generated by the badgers' exhalations and body heat; it rises and vents from the uppermost sett entrances (and as the warm air rises, it draws in fresh air through the lowermost sett entrances). The steam can be quite considerable on occasion, especially if there is a sow with cubs below ground. One winter's night some years ago, I visited my usual sett when there was snow on the ground. In the torchlight I saw steam gushing out of one of the sett entrances. I suspected that there might be a breeding chamber not far down this particular hole. Sure enough, in the following spring this was the entrance from which the cubs first emerged.

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Disappearing peanuts

Badgers love peanuts, so one way of checking whether or not badgers are active at a sett is to provide some nuts and check to see whether or not they disappear. Of course, other animals and birds like peanuts too, so if you just scatter nuts around on the ground they will soon disappear whether or not there are badgers about. To get around this problem, try putting peanuts in a slight depression in the ground, and cover them with a heavy rock. Birds and small mammals will not be able to lift the rock (though mice might burrow under it), but badgers, with their powerful forelegs, will have no problem.

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Sticks and sticky tape

Another way of finding out whether badgers are using a sett is to place sticks across the entrance holes. About half a dozen or so sticks should be used per hole, and they should be pushed firmly into the ground immediately outside or just inside the sett entrance at 5 centimetre / 2 inch intervals. If a badger uses a 'sticked' entrance it will push down or break several of the sticks, whereas a rabbit will generally move only one or two of the sticks, and then may only push them slightly to one side rather than pushing them out of the way completely. Remember that in Britain it is an offence to block up sett entrances, so don't use very thick sticks or push them in so firmly that the badgers cannot push them out of the way.

A variation of the "stick technique" is to push two sticks into the ground, one on either side of the hole, with a length of sticky tape running from one stick to the other. If a badger uses the hole it will hopefully leave a few hairs stuck to the tape.

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References

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Picture credits

The Eurasian badger photo used at the head of this Article is © Steve Jackson. Credits for the photos used in the right-hand margin of this page for site navigation can be found on the Credits page.

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