Tag Archives: Badgers in Britain

Gardens of Britain, Mammals of Britain, Wildlife in gardens in Britain

Mammals in British gardens

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92,000 people have taken part in the RSPB’s survey of garden wildlife, Make Your Nature Count, taking in 69,000 gardens in the UK. In addition to birds, the RSB asked participamts to look out for certain species of mammals. Above image: Nigel Blake (rspb-images.com)

Fourteen per cent  recorded the presence of moles, with half of these detecting moles regularly. Unsurprisingly, most moles were detected in rural gardens, being most frequently seen (or at least their molehills) in Wales in 25% of gardens, compared with 15% in Scotland and 13% in England. There are no moles in Northern Ireland.  Roe deer were recorded in 5% of gardens, with most sightings came from Scotland, where they were seen in 16% of gardens, compared to 4% in England and only 0.5% in Wales. There are no roe deer in Northern Ireland.

Hedgehogs were seen in 30% of gardens in urban areas, and more than one in seven saw them regularly. Hedgehog expert Hugh Warwick said: “Gardens are clearly very important for hedgehogs, a great example of a truly wild animal not only at home with us but also of great benefit to gardeners. “We should treasure the fact that they live comfortably in our gardens and so many people can get nose-to-nose with them.” The Guardian

A lucky 5%, in my opinion, saw badgers, including more than 20& in Somerset and Pembrokeshire.

The results:

Badger 5.50
Fox 26.23
Muntjac deer 1.91
Hedgehog 23.35
Roe deer 2.22
Mole 7.33
Red Squirrel 0.77
Cat 79.41
Badgers in Britain, Information about the 2010 cold snap

Baby badger rescued from the cold

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Badger

This five-day-old badger cub was on the brink of death after being left abandoned in the snow somewhere in Devon. More ridiculously cute photos and the story here

From the excellent badgerland.co.uk:

Badgers have unusual breeding patterns since mating can take place  at any time of the year. After mating, badgers exhibit what is known as delayed implantation. They keep the fertilised eggs, in the womb in a state of suspended development until they implant at the end of December. Cubs are usually born during the first fortnight in February in the south and west, but sometimes a little later as you go further north in the UK.

So this cub was born rather early in the year. I wonder if the mother was moving her cubs to a warmer sett and this one got dropped, or did it just remove it from the sett because it couldn’t feed it. Please drop me a mail if you can enlighten me on this.

Badgers in Britain, hedgehogs in Britain, Mammals of Britain

Hedgehogs being eaten by badgers

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A sharp drop in the number of hedgehogs in Britain is being blamed on the booming badger population developing a liking for them. The decline is also explained by the fact that both animals compete for the same foods.  Researchers have found a strong link between areas where badgers are doing well and declines in hedgehogs. Numbers are falling especially in the south and south west of England, and in urban areas. Another factor may be that the loss of hedgerows and the spread of intensive farming has reduced cover, so making hedgehogs easier to catch for badgers. More