The signs to look for
Snuffle holes
Small cone-shaped pits where a badger dug for worms or grubs
Where: lawns, pasture, woodland rides
Footprints
Five toes in a row above a broad pad, often with long claw marks. Compare tracks
Where: soft mud by gates, streams and paths
Hairs
Coarse, wiry, with a dark band and pale tip
Where: barbed wire and fence gaps
Paths
Narrow, well-worn tracks used night after night
Where: under hedges and fences, along woodland edges
Latrines
Shallow dug pits used as toilets, often away from the sett
Where: territory edges, field margins
Setts
D-shaped entrances wider than tall, big spoil heaps, old bedding. Whose hole is it?
Where: sloping banks in woodland or hedgerows
Scratch marks
Claw marks low on tree trunks
Where: trees near the sett
Detective tools
- Badger, fox or rabbit: whose hole is it? Compare entrance size, shape and the clues outside.
- Whose footprint is it? Compare badger, fox, rabbit, deer and hedgehog tracks.
- How to watch badgers without disturbing them.
Our promise
We never disclose badger or sett locations: our secret, and theirs! Please do the same. Don't post the exact location of an active sett online, because badger diggers and baiters look for them.