Badgers seem to be a bit controversial in England at the moment and sadly they are being culled because they are being implicated in the spread of TB in livestock. Scotland is Bovine TB free, and the reason for this is careful monitoring and testing of cattle, not culling or other persecution of wildlife. There are many Badgers in Argyll although you are unlikely to see them in broad daylight as they are nocturnal. They live in small family groups (of up to 32 individuals apparently so not that small!) and largely feed on earthworms and other invertebrates.

Badgers live in underground dens or ‘setts’ which are passed down over the generations and are sometimes hundreds of years old and huge. Unlike foxes, they take bedding underground. Badger cubs are born in February, usually in litters of around three, and will not emerge from the sett until April.

Badgers visit our bird feeding area every night. We are not sure how many there are – but we have seen two at a time and we think there are more than this because we have up to 10 individual sightings. They love peanuts and also the sort of suet balls you give to birds. We know this because the first evidence we saw of them was that the feeding cage we use to protect the birds from the cats had been ripped out of the ground by badgers. They also destroy our lawn but we don’t mind.

Check out our badger visitors…

Adult badgers have no significant predators apart from humans. Some people would say with the amount of persecution they have faced that one predator is more than enough.