It’s that time of year when you start to see more and more badgers out and about on the roads of the borough from Ravenshead and Newstead in the north of the borough to Burton Joyce and Netherfield in south of the borough.
February is the month when most cubs are born and then they are most active in March – but sadly this more active period results in a peak in road kills and orphaned cubs.
It is not until April that cubs usually make their first appearance above ground. The adults are very hungry, especially lactating sows, and all spend more time foraging.
Nottinghamshire Badger Group is a voluntary group organisation dedicated to the protection of badgers in Nottinghamshire, Lincolnshire and Rutland and came together as an ad-hoc group of friends with the simple aim of helping badgers.
The group campaigns for the existing laws relating to cruelty to badgers, and the interference of badger setts, to be strictly enforced.
One of the group’s current campaigns is for the manufacture, sale, distribution and possession of badger tongs to be made a criminal offence.
Although often perceived as a predominately countryside resident, there is a healthy population of badgers in most Nottinghamshire towns.
Badgers are highly intelligent, adaptable creatures who have evolved to forage for food in many urban and suburban locations.
The group raise orphaned badger cubs into self-sufficient adults able to to safely be returned to the wild.
Badgers live on an omnivorous diet of worms, insects, beetles, roots, shoots and fruits and are adept natural foragers.
Sadly the group are are often engaged in getting badgers veterinary care, frequently with claw and paw injuries caused from digging in hard ground, such as in drought conditions. They have to use specialist trap cages as normal domestic pet carriers cannot contain a determined badger from escape!
I caught up with Stan Hope from The Nottinghamshire Badger Group who told us all about the hard work of the team of volunteers.
Stan said “A lot of time is spent by our survey team, just looking at badger setts. We also catch injured badgers to present to our vets. In a long hot late summer this is THE main workload.
“Orphaned cubs take a lot of skilled rearing, keeping them as close to natural wild existence as we can.
“We have contact with a number of local vets and always try and keep travel distances to a minimum.
“If a member of the public find an injured badger, in the first instance, they should call the RSPCA on 0300 1234 999 they have their own vets on call 24/7.”
In the UK and Ireland our native badger is the Eurasian badger (Meles Meles) which is found throughout the European continent. Globally there are 6 other related badger species.
Nottinghamshire Badger Group’s team of volunteers can advise on most badger issues and living in harmony with them for those lucky enough to have them visit.
The Nottinghamshire group can be contacted by email: nottinghamshirebadgergroup@gmail.com
