This started off as a reply to a comment on my last post, but it got a bit long so I thought I’d convert it into a post of its own right. It is an interesting subject, and this isn’t really a reply to the comment so much as the train of thought it triggered off in me.
I talked about trying to keep hidden from the badgers. As Undergrowth commented, I’m sure that the badgers are perfectly aware of my presence, even if it is just from coming across my scent as they forage in the wood. I live in hope that one day they’ll get used to me being there!
And it would be perfectly possible to use food to get the badgers to accept me. You can train animals to do just about anything with food. The famous psychologist B. F. Skinner once trained a cat to play the piano. Skinner trained animals to do all sorts of things – he created the world’s first guided missile using trained pigeons to home in on the target (thankfully never used, not least for the sake of the pigeons!)
I’ve seen how badgers make full use of available food resources, and I’m sure that regular feeding would get them literally eating out of my hand. I know that many people feed badgers. The extra food can be a real benefit to the badgers as well as providing some great views for the watchers. When you think about it, it’s no different to feeding the birds, and I certainly do that.
But the problem is that once you start feeding animals, you lose the natural behaviour. I’m not saying it’s wrong to feed them – lord knows we’ve messed around with our wildlife in far more serious ways – but I don’t want to go down that route. I have put out some peanuts for the badgers in the past, but I’ve stopped doing it now. I want to be able to see the badgers in their natural state.
In other words, I don’t want to just watch them, I want to understand them. I want to understand what they do, and how they live.
This is also why I go to so much trouble to stay out of sight. Even though the badgers are sure to know that I’ve been there, I still want to make as little impact as possible. I don’t want the badgers to associate me with fear or danger. If they come to associate my scent with someone crashing about the undergrowth or blundering into view, then they’ll learn to avoid me in the future. I don’t want them to become friendly with me, just kind of neutral.
It sounds like a lot of trouble, but it means that ‘my’ badgers are truly wild. What I see is as close to natural behaviour as possible. That’s important for me.
As always, these are my own views. I know that some people will disagree and that’s fine. There are many situations where feeding badgers is a good thing for all concerned. Just not for me any more and not at this sett.
Tales from the Wood - The Diary of a Badger Watching Man 
oh I do generally agree – but my initial point was really about one of a number of methods employed by evil persons – food can be drugged so that living but unconscious badgers can be
collected for use in diabolic evil events . I have agreed with the general “natural habitat” thing but (& this may be disagreeable with persons who arent actively involved in protection) routinely we observe badger setts , very closely .
No doubt we leave trace smells . so far it has not deterred the badgers from using the same entrances . They are always cautiously sniffing whenever I have seen them emerging – but there is a huge distinction I am finding with setts that have been dug – Badgers are of course shy , but the monitoring I have been doing here in Yorks proves to me at least that it takes way more than a bit of human scent to put em off going out to feed .
dry summers affect badgers badly – so it may be worth supplimenting them at those times . I have never fed a badger . Neither has close inspection of a sett (as long as it is non-invasive) prevented badgers from feeding .
my own mental motto is observe but dont intefere , unless of course we have to (injured animals) . Its so sad that we are having a spate of badger attacks here
http://kirklees-badgers.co.uk/component/content/article/46-bloody-badger-baiting.html
forgot to mention new badger video gallery
http://badgers.wq2rx.com/index.php?option=com_seyret&Itemid=6
Bang on Badgerman, I agree with you but do confess to having fed badgers on the odd occasion, but certainly not routinely and just in small amounts. I have also discovered that badgers are partial to Sugar Puffs as well as monkey nuts! Must be the honey mummy. Purpose built hides at certain badger locations are great for introducing people to badgers but I worry that some people will depart thinking that a grazing group of ‘heads down’ badgers is normal behaviour when there is much more to see and learn from this fascinating species. Filming badgers, I can study the footage in detail and I often pick up on things I missed when in the field. For those interested, some recent video is available on http://www.badgerpics.org.uk
Cheers,
John
I have just been reading “projects on badgers” by the mammal society – for determining territory size
it suggests a mixture of peanuts , syrup & very small (5mm) pieces of coloured plastic – it goes on to recomend doing this daily for 7 – 10 days 20 baits per sett – I wonder what you will make of that – I am happy to guess the range of badgers – though there may be times when going up to badger city , this may be worthwhile , I remember reading of just such an idea somewhere else on this site . Maybe this is academic for some , intricate observations are largely unimportant , as keeping an eye & ear out for farmers , gamekeepers , & badger “hit squads” consumes so much of our time – oh I wish it werent the case ,
I can see the argument for and against. After all, most people feed the birds. Personally I don’t feed my local badgers. I like to get close but close on my own merit using my own techniques and skill. If I’m welcome then they will ignore me. If not, well then that’s tough.
Cheers,
Pablo
Woodlife.co.uk
I think you’ve hit the nail on the head exactly Pablo.
I agree with you – like you, I guess, part of the reason I enjoy watching badgers is the challenge of stalking and observing a wild animal.
If you take feeding wildlife to its logical conclusion, what have you got? Pets?
I agree that supplementary feeding can have its place when the ground gets hard and cubs aren’t yet weaned. I don’t fully agree that conditioning them to a particular food source by well meaning observers, would make them more susceptible to capture by nefarious types. They would bait them irrespective. I know some that use Peanuts a lot and some that don’t. I too prefer to watch them in a relaxed and ‘natural’ state, than in a feeding frenzy. However,firstly if I need to get an accurate count in thick cover, I use them to coax them into one place. Secondly, if I am showing people Badgers regularly, i’ll prep just one Sett with them. Thirdly, if I host Photographers i’ll do the same. I wouldn’t go as far to say sporadic feeding creates pets, but it does condition them to tolerate your prescence. I think its up to the individual to balance it so they remain wild and wary.
Hi Ghillie
Well said about feeding badgers. Like you, I don’t think it does any real harm, and it can be useful for photography or introducing people to badgers.
I’m not planning to feed ‘my’ badgers, but then what do you do if they are obviously struggling? Hardcore wildlife film-makers would say to let them die because that’s the natural course of events, but I’m not sure I’m that tough-minded. I think if I saw badgers in real trouble then I’d very probably help them out with food or water.
In the meantime though, I’ll try to keep them wild. This in iitself is quite ironic since the badgers’ ‘natural’ feeding behaviour depends on unnaturally maintained pasture and grassland. So what is ‘natural’ anyway?
Good Point BM,
thats a tough one. I have never broadly fed Badgers in a tough year, then we really haven’t had consistantly dry and baked summers since the eighties. Not up here anyway:] It has been dry and hard for a few weeks but never over an extended period. As far as I have seen the Cub mortality was no differant.
I agree. I suppose it comes down to the level of personal ethic and involvement/detachment. Over work with wildlife I have had occasion to be ruthlessly pragmatic and i’ve worked with seasoned cameramen too, who don’t want to influence events even off camera as you stated. But at times I have cheated the natural order and helped, especially when there is more of a personal involvement. At home mostly. Seldom, have I left a distressed and terminal animal to its fate. But i suppose that is certain. What of a malnourished badger shaking and fatigued in your garden? I would help it. In the local Wild wood? the same. Deep in an isolated european Forest, possibly not.
I suppose the act of badgers utilizing cultivated feeding is by productive and I would say natural. Its the act of specifically dishing up the food under their noses, that is unnatural.
We all know that feeling, when we take someone out on their first watch,cramped and mosquito bit, its nearly dark and nothing has emerged. A little supplementary feeding helps not put them off for life. However i’ll personally blank several times at really difficult Setts and still not reach for the nuts.
Feeding badgers – interesting subject.
Badger Watching
I dont like to watch badgers, head down, eating peanuts – gets a bit boring. Like BMan, I enjoy the natural behaviour – the mutal grooming & bedding collection etc. I generally don’t feed at the sett because of this.
Supplementary Feeding
– A lactating sow gets killed on the road close to a main sett. Two orphan cubs are seen but are too wily to catch, but too young to do without mum. So I break the rule and feed the cubs daily at the sett. Using a varied mix of ‘natural’ foods such as cereal, esbilac milk, fruit, berries and nuts, dog food, odd bit of honey comb etc.
The cubs are hungry and come out early so it is easy to see that they get the food. It is thrilling to have them come so close, but I keep down wind and try not to let them see me. They are gradually weaned off the support food once the summer is over and the autumn fruits have kicked in.
I feel I can justify supporting the cubs as the situation was created by an unnatural phenomenon – the car.
Photography
Putting peanuts down for photo’s will give you a crap shot of badgers with their heads down.
Try something more imaginative – smear some honey on a tree trunk – this will get brock to stand up to reach it.
Or hang a strip of bacon from a branch, out of shot, and get some great views of badgers heads raise up and sniffing. Wedge nuts in tree tumps etc.
Bait Marking
Robarde mentions the recipe from the Mammal Socs web site for a survey technique known as Bait Marking. Basically you mix coloured markers into the food that is fed to the badgers – a different colour for each main sett- and then you check the latrines to see where the markers come out in the dung.
I have done this on several occasions, with help, as it is a big undertaking. It was done to determine the extent of each setts territory when a large area of land was due to be devastated by development. It enabled us to work out which foraging resources belonged to wihich badger clan and thus enabled us to ensure that each clan retained key food sources and smaller setts. We were suprised by some of the results.
Urban Badgers
This is the situation where I am all for badger feeding. Living in the overdeveloped south I have seen housing development encroach on badger territorys from all sides. When this happens the badgers have to adjust to a new lifestyle and adapt to new sources of food (no more corn fields and worm rich pastures). The country badger has to become a street wise badger and learn which gardeners are badger friendly and where food is available.
I have produced a handout to give advice and recipes to all those people who feed their urban badgers – those who are kind enough to give back a little to these creatures from which we have taken so much.
Let me know if you would like a copy of the Badger Feeding Handout.
Well Josie, i’m right with you there. You summed it up. Watching Badgers grazing nuts gets boring very quickly. There is no time for them to have even a personal scratch as they go straight into the frenzy of competition. Sated thus they head back below or off to find something less dry to taste. All that emerging energy for play and grooming etc, distracted by frantic feeding.
I know you are all ganging up on me for using them :] but as I said I only use them for an individuals first visit as just the sight of them is usually exciting enough to draw them into taking a chance without them the next time.
Good advice for Photography there. Peanut butter on trees will give you a scratching shot as you said, or on ground vegetation for an alert posture. You can try to position them for a shot too, but they have an uncanny knack of facing the wrong way if they can. Putting peanuts just under the spoil lip of a bankside entrance gives a good emerging shot. Its a trade off here of baiting them out earlier than usual, in good light, or trying to catch them without later, in natural behaviour under darker conditions.
Interesting thoughts on Surburban Setts. The one I usually prep with bait is on the site of an old convent, which was demolished and several houses built in its place and on the Orchard. This left a relative Island of a wood and meadow with a difficult roadway course to negotiate to reach more substantial feeding. More than one of the Badgers met its fate on the tarmac. Extra feeding here may well curb just a little wanderlust.
Ah, this debate could go on and on, but it sounds like we’re all in general agreement here.
Feeding is OK for some situations but it isn’t the ‘real thing’. I enjoy the wildness of badgers, and I like to try and understand their natural behaviour, so I don’t feed them. However, if I came across one that needed it, for whatever reason, then yes, I would feed it then. Likewise if I needed to guarantee that the badgers would stick around, for photography or to show someone, then I’d be tempted again.
I know people who have had badgers in their garden and who have tried feeding them regularly, on the principle that if they provided food then the badgers wouldn’t dig up the lawn in search of something to eat. Not sure if it worked though…
Hi Josie
The bait marking technique is interesting. I may well try this myself at some point, but as you say, it can be pretty intensive.
My colleagues at the Bedfordshire Badger Network carried out a mammoth 10-year bait marking survey. This was a fantastic piece of work that showed how badger territories changed and moved over the years. Mind you, I think it was very hard work for the people involved, so they’re taking a hard earned rest for a while.
But… there’s nothing to stop me having a go on a much smaller and informal scale for a few of my local setts…
Wow, a 10 year bait marking study. That is dedication. It sounds very interesting have they published the results?
You would probably be able to manage to do a couple of local setts by yourself.
Once you have established the bait points, it is just a daily visit with a couple of buckets of the goo. You might even be able to coerce your wife to help to prepare the bait mix 🙂
My tip is to use golden syrup, not mollasess, as it sticks everything together better. To make it easier to stir the mix, warm the syrup a little in the microwave first.
The markers dont dissapear so wait until you have a good uptake of the bait before you do the final latrine survey.
Best time for bait marking is Feb – peak of territorial behaviour and limited vegetation cover – makes it easier to get good results.
Looking forward to reading about this in the blog!
Hi Ghillie,
Peanuts do have their uses, and are a good way to lure badgers to where u want them.
My first ever badger watch was engineered with peanuts.
My badger mentor used to put peanuts around the sett by placing them in a plastic cup, which was attached to a long bamboo stick. This enabled him to place the peanuts exactly where he wanted them, without having to walk near the sett before the badgers emerged!
If you put the peanuts out early – the wood mice, squirrels and jays take them all before the badgers come out!
Very true. I do like to see the wood mice taking their share. However not so Brown Rats that seem to like holing up in quieter corners of a Sett. Many years ago I had a trio of Rats feast on the nuts to become,later in the season, an army. No doubt the extra food was extending their fecundity. I was fast becoming the catalyst in a local vermin problem.
I know there was a badger filmed eating a honeycomb in a log. It had a heck of a time eating the comb as there were bees with it. I can’t remember the source but would like my grandchildren to see it. Any info?
Vern Cavin
Interesting post.
I am a great fan of badgers and am lucky to have a number of badger setts 100 yards from my home – at least 10 to 15 badgers living in these setts at the moment and probably more with this year’s young ones. I have followed these badgers for a numbers of years and they are very interesting animals. However, badgers are quite capable of getting all the nutrician they require, without help from us. I am, generally, not in favour of feeding wild animals. However, there are times when I do leave out flavoured rice to attract badgers to my camera.
Hi Mike – sorry for the unpardonable delay in replying
I’m with you on the feeding. I don’t think it does any harm unless taken to excess, but I don’t think you see any animals being truly wild if you feed them. I do feed the birds in the garden, but that’s about it. Interesting about the flavoured rice. Do they have a particular favourite flavour?
Great site by the way – It’s on my list to read in detail when I can find some time.
All the best
BWM
Hi BWN,
Thanks for your reply.
I think that feeding garden birds is is OK, as long as you keep feeding them: they become to rely on the food we give them. It’s a lot easier to put food out in the garden regularly for the birds, than it is to pop-out into the countryside to feed animals like badgers on a regular basis, particularly since they don’t need our help. The other thing about feeding badgers, is that it encourages them to leave their safe areas to search out the new food from our dust bins, as now happens in country towns and villages and probably in cities, too.
Beef or lamb flavoured rice, dog food variety, is a favourite with muntjac, foxes, mice, rats, badgers and rabbits and it doesn’t create a health hazzard.
Congrats on your site; it is very informative and interesting.
Keep up the good work.
Mike.