Badgers

Taxonomic information

Common Name: Badger

Latin Name: Meles meles

Family: Mustelidae

Description

Although technically the badger is the largest carnivore in the British Isles, its varied diet means that it is actually omnivorous. Favoured prey items are earthworms and other grubs but badgers will also eat fruits, nuts and berries. Their diet means that they are primarily associated with woodland, but the relatively low woodland cover in the Dales means that this is not always the case locally. Most badgers are found in the lowland areas of the National Park but a few are found on high ground, with reportedly the highest sett in Yorkshire found at 520m above sea level in Upper Wharfedale.

Badgers are social animals, living in small family groups with a dominant male and female. They are nocturnal, emerging from their setts at dusk to search for food. This makes badgers difficult to observe and so fieldworkers often look for signs such as bedding (leaves, dead grass and bracken) at the entrance of the sett to determine whether it is occupied or not.

Their nocturnal habits make it difficult to determine the true population status but it appears that although badgers are widespread in the Dales, they are not particularly common.