unwanted badger digging up our garden

caris

Hi

Sorry if this is not in the right place.

We have badgers keep coming in our back garden and they are digging up the lawn to get at the worms, our lawn is now a right mess. Has anyone got any ideas how we can stop them from doing this? We have looked to see where they are getting into the garden but cannot see anywhere, they used to get in through next doors but they then put up a wooden fence to block the hole in the hedge between our gardens, but there are no visible signs of where they are getting in now, just the damage to the lawn.

Any ideas greatly received

Thanks in advance
caris

MichH

Bumping - I am having the same problem, except the badger has dug up alot of my newly planted seedlings.

Any advice will be gratefully received. Thanks.

lostinrates

Our neighbours put lots of food out to minimise the scrubbing about the badgers do. This is moderately successful for them: the only problem is they always have to increase the amount of food they put out, as more and more come. They buy cheap big sacks of dog food from an agriculturl merchants and lack sacks of peanuts.

We have badgers passing through but not digging. DH wees around the garden to mark his territory, and this is reasonably effective (apparently it has to be male urine) and we have dogs which also patrol the garden too, though they are all girls and I'm not sure they count

mrcol1000

lostinrates wrote: »

Our neighbours put lots of food out to minimise the scrubbing about the badgers do. This is moderately successful for them: the only problem is they always have to increase the amount of food they put out, as more and more come. They buy cheap big sacks of dog food from an agriculturl merchants and lack sacks of peanuts.

We have badgers passing through but not digging. DH wees around the garden to mark his territory, and this is reasonably effective (apparently it has to be male urine) and we have dogs which also patrol the garden too, though they are all girls and I'm not sure they count

Surely putting out food will just attract them? They will keep coming back to food sources and all their family will come as well. Also if there is a regular food source they will produce more children and so increasing the number of Badgers.
You want to ask Jasper Carrot he use to do a very funny bit of stand up regarding getting rid of Moles from his garden. I think it ended with him sitting in his garden in the middle of the night with a shotgun.

lostinrates

mrcol1000 wrote: »

Surely putting out food will just attract them? They will keep coming back to food sources and all their family will come as well. Also if there is a regular food source they will produce more children and so increasing the number of Badgers.
You want to ask Jasper Carrot he use to do a very funny bit of stand up regarding getting rid of Moles from his garden. I think it ended with him sitting in his garden in the middle of the night with a shotgun.

Yes, the point I made: it stops them scrubbing up the ground for food, as the food is on the surface, but you have to keep increasing the amount you put out. Its why we don't follow our neighbours example.

the_devil_made_me_do_it

Wow, I would love badgers visiting my garden, certainly wouldn't have a problem feeding them. They are a rare & amazing sight & I would feel extremely privilaged to see them in my garden.

Precious_Thing

the_devil_made_me_do_it wrote: »

Wow, I would love badgers visiting my garden, certainly wouldn't have a problem feeding them. They are a rare & amazing sight & I would feel extremely privilaged to see them in my garden.

I couldn't agree with you more!!!

Precious Thing.

Mme.Hibou

We get badgers in my dad's garden, he buys cheap loaves of bread from the supermarket and he puts out a loaf a night. As soon as he stops putting the food out, they start digging again.
The family he gets have their own little round, visiting the same houses night after night and usually in the same order.

Badgers are lovely and I love hearing their claws scratching on the drive, my dad even manages to keep the security light on at the back of the house so people can watch them.

laurauk

i too would love to see them, but living in the city i guess there wouldnt be a chance, but i did see mr fox the other night running across the main road, i feel so sorry for them, as all the trees and woods that are left are forcing them to come on to the cities,
arent badgers protected now and cant be harmed? i do hope that is right? they are greta to watch.

frivolous_fay

No fox hunting in the city
I think urban foxes have ok lives.

orlao

laurauk wrote: »

arent badgers protected now and cant be harmed?

They are - it's illegal to harm them and AFAIK it's also illegal to block their routes through gardens.

We have badger setts in the horse fields and a couple of times I've had a fright when I've seen "strangers" hanging around behind hedges, turns out it was the local "BadgerWatch" checking that no one was interfering with them:rotfl:If you sit up the field quietly at night you can watch them for hours:D