A Few Notes For A Tuesday: Funding, Conservation (the unpopular stuff)

 

Interesting question the other day that had me laughing for an hour. "What sort of grants or financial support do you get in your badger work?

You have to laugh.

Ahem. In the UK there are no grants for carrying out badger work. The only money goes to the morons who go out "culling" badgers and they do quite well out of it. Decades of experience in the UK counts for nothing because the "nation of animal lovers" is anything but.

I was reminded yesterday that it was 20 badger sett areas I had saved from developers over the last ten years (I could swear it was 12 but then I was reminded of the locations ). That was me working my posterior off contacting developers, DEFRA, land auctioneers and anyone else in the "interested party" category. I do not go out seeking publicity -in fact I annoy people by turning interviews down- and although I have tried to raise interest in donating to the work after a few years I gave up. The Badger trust does NOT fund groups (cash flow is one way).

At one point I was trying to get dead badgers necropsied as post mortems could tell us a lot about urban badgers. I was told an outright lie three times (I have those emails) that "We cannot carry out badger post mortems due to Health and Safety (TB) regulations" -the pathologist who told me that  was carrying out badger PMs at the same time. Considering the Fox Post Mortem study was officially suppressed I should not be surprised -100 badgers PM and zero bovine TB would show how unscientific the cull is.

Outside the UK the badger is recognised as a "scapegoat species" -it is even noted in non-UK written books. Dogma sells books for idiots.

Ask any badger group -or the Badger Trust- WHY badgers survived hundreds of years of melecide while foxes (old types), wi9l;d cats and various other species went into extinction and I am betting the actual answer will not be forthcoming. Years of reading natural history books, journals etc from the 18th century on led me to find out why.

For me the main point of the work has been the safety and conservation of the animals I do work on. Saving them is rewarding enough although it does not pay the rent!

Quick Update

 

Further new locations of badgers in Bristol being added to the confidential list.

I think people in Bristol would be genuinely surprised at just where the badgers are.

Sadly, another possible source to carry out badger necropsies decided today they they made an error in offering to do the work as it "might have a negative impact on the practice". Apparently a few of their clients are farmers so...

Badger Territories Bristol and South Gloucestershire

 

If you live in the City and County of Bristol or South Gloucestershire (seen as "Bristol" traditionally) and have regularly visiting badgers or have a badger sett on your property: PLEASE let me know.

With increasing threats to established habitats from developers and more the badger territories need to be logged and protection established. DO NOT post locations in any open Face Book groups but contact me via the FB Bristol Badger Group and messenger or by email at blacktowercg@hotmail.com.

All information is strictly private and not for disclosure unless a threat to setts identified emerges. Between 1977-2018 I worked with UK police forces and have been a naturalist for 50 years and in that time never once  breached confidentiality.

We need to make sure badgers are protected and can survive.

Thank You

Just Some Notes

photo (c)2026 respective copyright owner

The last member of the old Avon Badger Group which folded circa 1992 has stated that they will not share badger data from that group (BRERC says it doesn't have any of it but I suspect that is incorrect).

"I am proud to say I will take that information to the grave with me"

How on Earth can with holding information that can help conserve/protect badgers not be shared? I worked with UK police forces from 1977-2018 and I am what they ego boostingly (at times I wish I had an ego!) call a "noted naturalist"

As it stands I have, over 30+ years noted over 5o badger sett/sighting locations in Bristol itself and there is one thing that I do know: there are far more.

I get told of badgers that visit gardens but ask where the sett is and...silence. I accidentally hear of new sites (2 in this past three days) and I believe that if I added those sites we would be up to 60 badger territories. I have no objection to people keeping badger setts secret and encourage that but when a badger needs help or setts are threatened it is very useful to kick back at developers etc and say "No. Historical badger territory".

It gets to be very annoying when people contact me and say "We've had badgers here 30 years, they were here when we moved in but now we are thinking of moving on..." then it is all "Will they be safe -how can we make sure they are protected?" Oh, so I wasn't worth contacting until then (nothing unusual there!).

The simple answer is:

" estate agents are legally required to disclose the presence of badgers (or a badger sett) to potential buyers if they are aware of them, as this is considered "material information". "

I do need volunteers with badger experience who can go and check locations or carry out a quick survey of an area where badgers are believed to live.

Badgers that need treatment we have access to vets etc so calling on the Somerset group who do not tell us they are coming to Bristol, what they treated a badger for etc should not happen.

I can be contacted 7 days a week by FB messenger and the details for fox/badger rescue or treatment is posted on the group.

It would be nice to have post mortems carried out on badgers but certain agencies are preventing that.

A Badger Went A Wandering

(c)2026 respective copyright owner

I asked on a couple of my groups (Bristol Wildlife and Bristol Foxes and Badgers) whether anyone had noted unusual badger activity. Typically only one person responded (location not identified):

 "Hello Terry. You asked about unusual badger sightings.

"So FYI I live on ----------- and have done for nearly 30 years, and for the first time in all my 72 years I've seen a live badger. And it was in my garden .

"We regularly have foxes and hedgehogs, and I also spotted a badger about 3 months ago. Something had broken into the hedgehog café a few weeks before (I still put a few biscuits out during the winter) but I put it down to the foxes. But then I saw the badger.

"I've seen it 3 times since. It doesn't come every night, maybe 3 times over a 2 week period. I know it's been by the way the dishes are left.."

The area in question we know there are badgers and they compete with foxes for food but no real conflict between the two. Was this badger just wandering around on a forage for food or looking to expend territory into that area? We have no idea as many badger setts are known but there are householders who keep setts in their gardens secret -I learnt of a new one just yesterday and only because advice was asked for badgers digging under a path -likely for worms rather than sett building.

There are badgers in my area but I never saw any or any signs so I had a few doubts about what people told me. About 6 years ago I heard a loose drain cover out my the front door stepped on at 0200 hrs. Foxes and cats are too light to cause this but by the time I got outside (expecting to find an intruder -nothing.

The next night I heard the sound again but on looking out -nothing.

This was almost regular for a couple nights so when I heard it again I got up and rather than open the front door looked out through the side window. As my eyes adjusted to the light I could see a shape by the mini pond (partially obscured by a bush. I kept watching and knew it was not a fox so a cat? Something was wrong with that idea and then...it came into view and lifted its head smelling the air. It was a badger and at that time I had no trail cameras.

A little excited I decided that if I left the porch light on I could get a good photo when it turned up again/

Years later I have trail cams but never captured a badger on one. A badger visited a few nights and decided I was not worth visiting again!

Urban badgers are not quite as common as urban foxes but there is a big enough population and these populations may all that can survive once the cull has seen countryside populations unable to recover.