Ray Collier Country Diary- Badgers

Badgers - 10th November 2008

This is a dangerous time of the year for badgers as in the many setts scattered throughout the Highlands young cubs are facing up to their first winter and possible food shortages. The adult badgers mating and fertilisation could have taken place at any time of the year but the implantation of the fertilised egg is delayed until December and the cubs are born in March. Further south the births may take place as early as mid January but what evidence there is of Highland badgers suggest early to mid March. When they are born the cubs have a pink skin and are covered with a silky, greyish white fur and are blind until they are about five weeks old. Weaning starts at 12 weeks old but as the cub may venture out of the sett at 8 weeks they do not venture far as they are tied to the sow for all their food. By the time the cub has emerged its hair and colour are similar to the adults. The back is greyish and the legs dark brown to black and the tail is pale. This camouflages well in the dark but the head markings are conspicuous. There are three white stripes on the head with the two side ones extending back onto the neck and the ears are small and have white tips. The cub in the photograph is about nine weeks old and was taken at a sett on the southern edge of Inverness in broad-leaved woodland.
Adults badgers in the Highlands would appear to have no natural enemies apart from humans. They are seldom killed by other animals although there have been cases involving foxes and occasionally badgers have been killed by hounds if found above ground. Even then it may be because the badger was injured in some way as a fit, adult badger is extremely strong. Hugh Miller wrote about badger pits in some public houses in Scotland where the badger was deliberately injured in some way so that the dogs let loose in the pit for sport had a better chance. Such is the strength of an adult badger. The cubs are a different matter and because of their size they are more vulnerable. During the first few weeks of their life they are left on their own for long periods and dogs such as terriers may enter the setts and kill them. Vixens and boar badgers have been known to kill them and if the sow is disturbed just after the birth of the cubs she may kill and eat them. Just occasionally small dead cubs can be found on the spoil of earth outside the sett as if the dead cub has been cleared out, sometimes with old bedding. Badger cubs have been recorded in golden eagle nests but it is likely that they had been taken as carrion but there is evidence that eagles and buzzards have taken small cubs in the late evening. Starvation just after weaning has been recorded especially if there is a dry spell when food, such as earthworms, is difficult to find and the cubs may be inexperienced in finding food if it is short.
Despite all these problems and the even greater ones affecting the adults it would appear that badgers are thriving in the Highlands and despite the horrific number of road casualties many of the clans of badgers around Inverness seem to be increasing in numbers. Some setts have been badly affected by the sprawl of urban development particularly between Inverness and Nairn and it appears that this will only get worse in the foreseeable future.