March 2026 – A Badger’s Brave New World
By Kerry Williams: Communications Officer – Conservation, Sussex Wildlife Trust
The Badger is a UK icon. Our largest predator, this monochrome mustelid is a star of the classics; Wind in the Willows, Beatrix Potter, and a certain well-known charity’s logo. Often misunderstood, they are also loved by many, and some would argue there’s not much better than a Badger, except perhaps, a Badger cub.
Deep in the sett, the Badger burrow, cosy chambers are lined with vegetation collected by the females. Cubs are born around February, but tiny stripey noses don’t peek out for 12 weeks, when they emerge in spring. It’s a big new world to explore, and stranger than it once was.
Their ancestors would have trundled about acres of ancient woodland; towering veterans and thick, sheltered understorey. Ventures into wildlife-rich farmland would have been commonplace for plentiful omnivorous feasts of insects, fruits, and juicy worms slurped from thick, fertile soil. Without trying, children may have spotted these Badgers for real, on summer evenings humming with biodiversity.
For these new cubs, it’s a different story, where invertebrates are often scarce, soil hard, and movement restricted. Seasons have shifted, weather is more erratic, and precious habitats rarer. It’s a story where thousands of their kin come to undignified ends on our busy roads, pesticides kill off much of the food, and the future of the family sett is unsure.
But the former isn’t a fable, it’s a reminder.
It is possible that these cubs, tumbling unexpectedly out of woodland boundaries, might not be met with hot, confusing concrete, but buzzing wildflower road verges; a heads up for the danger ahead. They might cross these risky highways via green wildlife bridges. They could travel with confidence through well-connected gardens and urban green spaces, staying safe along dense hedgerows and taking respite in deliberately dark nocturnal pockets.
They might once again take advantage of a bulging buffet, in our unmown and pesticide-free parks and lawns, in deep field-side buffer strips and in reinvigorated sickly-sweet native Bluebell woodland. We could better appreciate and understand Badger behaviour and needs, engage and connect communities, and inspire a younger generation. Their habitats could be fiercely protected, and their setts saved.
It sounds idyllic, but it doesn’t have to be fiction – it’s achievable and in reach. We can reset our expectations, recreate those lost habitats, and rewrite the story for our Badgers.