What we do
Advice
We are able to give advice to members of the public as well as the police and local planning and highways authorities. We also act as consultants to developers on all matters relating to badgers, their setts and their activities. Badgers are protected by law, and any interference carried out without a licence is a criminal offence.
Badgers in Gardens
If you are lucky enough to have badgers visiting your garden, but don’t want them burrowing under the fence or digging holes in the lawn looking for cockchafer grubs or worms, give us a call and we will come and assess the situation and offer practical advice. See also our badger faq page, which carries relevant tips.
Badger Watching
Unfortunately, because the group has not been very active over the past few years, the hide we have in the north of the county has deteriorated somewhat. A working party visited it last year and the decision was made to try to restore it, but, if that was impractical, then we would put in a new hide. However, we now discover that HS2 is going practically right through the hide. We need to find a new site to put a hide, and we believe that HS2 will probably fund a new hide if we can find another suitable site. So if anyone knows of a suitable place that they think might be suitable, please let us know.
Field Trips
We can occasionally organise a field trip to members only, to teach people how to look for badger field signs. We can show you how to recognise regular badger runs, latrine pits and scratching posts; how to tell a badger print from a fox or a dog and how to tell a badger sett from a fox earth. We will show you the difference between a badger hair and any other caught on a barbed wire fence. These trips, which regrettably we have had to limit to members only, usually double as general nature rambles with the chance to see rare wild flowers and butterflies in season, and birds ranging from firecrest and long tailed tit to buzzard and red kite.
We also often have joint badger watching with our neighbouring badger groups, Tewin Orchard with the Herts and Middx Badger Group and Wytham Woods with the Oxfordshire Badger Group.
All events will be posted on this website and on our Facebook page.
Newsletter
We produce a regular newsletter which contains news, articles by members, humorous stories and anecdotes about badgers, and local contacts. If any member would like to contribute an article for the newsletter it will be gratefully received.
We have a very active Facebook page where the latest news and opinions are posted.
Working parties
In the past we have had working parties for such purposes as renovating the hide, installing badger gates or an artificial sett for the release of rehabilitated sick or injured badgers back into the wild. With HS2 about to cut a huge swathe through Buckinghamshire, this will have the effect of destroying many badger setts, and the badgers will have to be removed – a long and complex task. We are going to need volunteers to help with this job in the near future. Also, if we can find a suitable place to build a new hide, we will need help to build it.
