Meet the neighbours
Six full profiles, each with quick facts, signs to look for, how the animal links to the badger and how you can help.
Red fox
Native · Dusk and night
Sometimes moves into unused parts of a big badger sett.
Hedgehog
Native · Night
One of its few predators is the badger.
Roe deer
Native · Dawn and dusk
Uses delayed implantation, just like the badger.
Red squirrel
Native · Day
Works the day shift in the same woods.
Rabbit
Introduced · Dawn and dusk
Its burrows are often mistaken for badger setts.
Tawny owl
Native · Night
The badger's night-shift neighbour on the woodland floor.
More woodland friends
Six more of the badger's neighbours, from deer and squirrels to owls, mice and moles, each with its own full profile.
Fallow deer
Introduced · Dawn and dusk
Shares woodland paths and field edges at dusk.
Reeves' muntjac
Introduced · Dawn, dusk and night
Heavy browsing changes the undergrowth badgers forage in.
Grey squirrel
Introduced · Day
Changed the badger's woods by pushing out red squirrels.
Barn owl
Native · Dusk and night
Hunts the field edges badgers follow at night.
Wood mouse
Native · Night
A key part of the night-time food web.
Mole
Native · Day and night, underground
Competes with badgers for earthworms.
Why a badger site covers other animals
No animal lives alone. Knowing the badger's neighbours helps you read the signs in a wood: whose hole it is, whose footprint, whose call in the dark. It also explains how changes to one animal ripple through the rest.