{"id":159,"date":"2022-11-27T16:48:57","date_gmt":"2022-11-27T16:48:57","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/northumberlandbadgergroup.org.uk\/?page_id=159"},"modified":"2026-01-22T20:37:23","modified_gmt":"2026-01-22T20:37:23","slug":"elementor-159","status":"publish","type":"page","link":"https:\/\/northumberlandbadgergroup.org.uk\/?page_id=159","title":{"rendered":"How to recognise a badger sett"},"content":{"rendered":"\t\t
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Badgers are protected by law.<\/strong><\/p>

The protection of Badgers Act 1992 prevents injury to and the disturbance of badgers.\u00a0 It also defines and protects their setts.\u00a0 You must not disturb a badger or its sett without obtaining a licence from Natural England.<\/strong>\u00a0<\/strong><\/p>

It is your responsibility to identify the presence of badgers.\u00a0 Ignorance is no excuse in the eyes of the law.<\/em><\/strong><\/p>

What is a sett?<\/u><\/strong><\/p>

A sett is defined as a hole currently occupied by badgers.<\/strong><\/p>

Below is a picture of a woodland scene depicting a badger sett as well as rabbit holes and a fox earth.\u00a0 Please remember badger setts can be found in a variety of other habitats.<\/p>

Note the three sett entrances in the centre of the picture, they are oval flat holes usually accompanied by spoil heaps thrown out by the industrious badger.\u00a0 A badger hole in size is roughly the same as this information sheet when laid on its side, so why not use this sheet as a guide.<\/p>

\"\"<\/p>

<\/p>

A fox earth is depicted to the left of the setts at the base of a tree.\u00a0 A fox hole is higher and narrower than a badgers, it is an upright oval in shape and is\u00a0 roughly the size of this sheet when stood on end.\u00a0 To the right of the picture are three rabbit holes, identifiable by their smaller size, they are\u00a0generally the size of this sheet folded in half.\u00a0 Scratch marks and animal paths are also shown as you may find them in the vicinity of a badger sett.\u00a0<\/p>

Note the three sett entrances in the centre of the picture, they are oval flat holes usually accompanied by spoil heaps thrown out by the industrious badger.\u00a0 A badger hole in size is roughly the same as this information sheet when laid on its side, so why not use this sheet as a guide.<\/p>

Badger<\/strong><\/p>

\"\"<\/p>

Badgers have distinctive footprints with five claws and base pads on each paw.\u00a0 This is very different from a fox\u2019s footprint which is more like a dogs.<\/p>

Note:\u00a0 the picture depicts both front and hind paws of a badger, the front paw is however larger.<\/p>

Rabbit<\/strong><\/p>

\"\"<\/p>

Rabbit footprints are much smaller than a badger or fox and resembles neither.<\/p>

Dog<\/strong><\/p>

\"\"<\/p>

Never miss man\u2019s best friend who can always be relied on to be rooting around wild animal holes.<\/p>

Fox<\/strong><\/p>

\"\"<\/p>

The fox has only four claw marks in it\u2019s footprint.\u00a0There is no way it can be mistaken for a badger print.<\/p>

Ferret<\/strong><\/p>

\"\"<\/p>

Ferrets are also worth bearing in mind especially where there are rabbits.\u00a0 The rabbit catcher may have been around.\u00a0 Their footprints are also similar to the mink.<\/p>

Cat<\/strong><\/p>

\"\"<\/p>

Cats are mobile creatures and can often be found around rabbit warrens and badger setts<\/p><\/div>\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t<\/div>\n\t\t\t\t<\/div>\n\t\t\t\t\t<\/div>\n\t\t<\/div>\n\t\t\t\t\t<\/div>\n\t\t<\/section>\n\t\t\t\t<\/div>\n\t\t","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"

Badgers are protected by law. The protection of Badgers Act 1992 prevents injury to and the disturbance of badgers.\u00a0 It also defines and protects their setts.\u00a0 You must not disturb a badger or its sett without obtaining a licence from Natural England.\u00a0 It is your responsibility to identify the presence […]<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":1,"featured_media":0,"parent":0,"menu_order":0,"comment_status":"closed","ping_status":"closed","template":"page-templates\/template-pagebuilder-full-width.php","meta":{"_eb_attr":"","footnotes":""},"class_list":["post-159","page","type-page","status-publish","hentry"],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/northumberlandbadgergroup.org.uk\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/pages\/159","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/northumberlandbadgergroup.org.uk\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/pages"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/northumberlandbadgergroup.org.uk\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/types\/page"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/northumberlandbadgergroup.org.uk\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/users\/1"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/northumberlandbadgergroup.org.uk\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Fcomments&post=159"}],"version-history":[{"count":14,"href":"https:\/\/northumberlandbadgergroup.org.uk\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/pages\/159\/revisions"}],"predecessor-version":[{"id":319,"href":"https:\/\/northumberlandbadgergroup.org.uk\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/pages\/159\/revisions\/319"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/northumberlandbadgergroup.org.uk\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Fmedia&parent=159"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}