Badgers filling ditches in

[john63]

Morning all,

We have a few places where badgers have dug out areas in/near ditches/dykes. As a result of this it has blocked the dyke, meaning that the land gets flooded.

We don't want to disturb them, but is there anything we can do legally? Can we just go in with the digger and clear out the soil?

Thanks

 

[Danllan]

Morning all,

We have a few places where badgers have dug out areas in/near ditches/dykes. As a result of this it has blocked the dyke, meaning that the land gets flooded.

We don't want to disturb them, but is there anything we can do legally? Can we just go in with the digger and clear out the soil?

Thanks

You'll note that excavating, ploughing, driving in posts and harvesting are all potentially proscribed; enjoy.

Badgers: protection and licences - GOV.UK (www.gov.uk)

 

[milkloss]

You’re going to get some obvious answers but really there’s not anything you can do legally apart from a lot of time and money.

we have the same in one of our ditches with a sett up on a bank. Can’t leave it so just go in with the digger and try not to upset the holes. Have to do it every three months so is now part of their environment and usual noises and they haven’t moved away.

 

[renewablejohn]

Funny how badgers never make there home at the end of a leaky drain. Just saying

 

[TheTallGuy]

Funny how badgers never make there home at the end of a leaky drain. Just saying

It's funny, but I came across a sett a while back where the spoil had altered the profile of the ditch. I did think about redistributing the spoil, but since no one could remember there ever having been water there I left it for the time being. Low & behold, we have a somewhat extra wet period of weather and the ditch flooded... as did the badger sett as a result of the spoil. If only the bunnies would do the same....

 

[gloria1]

I was told by a prominent countryside organisation, ,if you want to be absolutely legal and dont forget everyone has a mobile camera, then follow Forestry Commision and Welsh govt guidance,which is to leave a 20 metre safety buffer zone around the sett entrance , with no usage of heavy machinery in the buffer zone eg, tractor, plough ,diggers,power harrows etc around the sett entrance.If you ask Defra for a licence or guidance and have an expert visit,you will be monitored for ever, their job is to protect badgers and not the land user. Large housing projects that find a badger sett on their build area end up being stopped, reduced housing nos,,and losing millions to avoid disturbing them.

 

[Dry Rot]

Where there is life, there is hope.

Mental Health Act 1983

An Act to consolidate the law relating to mentally disordered persons.

www.legislation.gov.uk

 

[Hindsight]

Morning all,

We have a few places where badgers have dug out areas in/near ditches/dykes. As a result of this it has blocked the dyke, meaning that the land gets flooded.

We don't want to disturb them, but is there anything we can do legally? Can we just go in with the digger and clear out the soil?

Thanks

They adore the silt roddons - I have quite a collection of photos now.

 

[kiwi pom]

Morning all,

We have a few places where badgers have dug out areas in/near ditches/dykes. As a result of this it has blocked the dyke, meaning that the land gets flooded.

We don't want to disturb them, but is there anything we can do legally? Can we just go in with the digger and clear out the soil?

Thanks

Probably not much you can do now other than suffer.
Any hope of being in a cull area soon, so the problem can be removed?

 

[steveR]

Probably not much you can do now other than suffer.
Any hope of being in a cull area soon, so the problem can be removed?

 

[Mc115reed]

I was told by a prominent countryside organisation, ,if you want to be absolutely legal and dont forget everyone has a mobile camera, then follow Forestry Commision and Welsh govt guidance,which is to leave a 20 metre safety buffer zone around the sett entrance , with no usage of heavy machinery in the buffer zone eg, tractor, plough ,diggers,power harrows etc around the sett entrance.If you ask Defra for a licence or guidance and have an expert visit,you will be monitored for ever, their job is to protect badgers and not the land user. Large housing projects that find a badger sett on their build area end up being stopped, reduced housing nos,,and losing millions to avoid disturbing them.

Quite funny really have you seen how hs2 deals with badgers? [emoji23]

 

[Mc115reed]

hs2, How?

Put a trap door over the set so the badgers can leave but can’t return ... give it a month then fill it in with hardcore [emoji23]

 

[gloria1]

I guess if you employ 20 ecologists costing millions and build new underground badger setts like HS2,you can convince Natural England.For the rest of us you can comply or risk it.My sett is right next to a public footpath so compliance is the safer bet. Bats spread Covid and rabies,Badgers Tb ,but interfere with them and big fines or worse,maybe Extinction Rebellion will scare them away today!

 

[Flasheart]

We had a similar problem last year . Carefully repaired the bank but still got reported and got a visit from the Police. Luckily it was a trained wildlife officer who agreed we had taken every care and not done any damage. He advised that before any future work to seek advice from local badger trusts or groups.

Roll on to this winter the badgers had undermined a culvert and blocked the water course and heavy rain caused the culvert to wash away and collapse the sett. Called the local badger trust and a decent bloke came and advised us how to repair it all without getting into trouble. He even gave us a written report to show to anyone causing us problems.

P.s it was free advice!

 

[Flasheart]

View attachment IMG_0860.HEICView attachment IMG_0863.HEICView attachment IMG_0863.HEIC

 

[Ffermer Bach]

We had a similar problem last year . Carefully repaired the bank but still got reported and got a visit from the Police. Luckily it was a trained wildlife officer who agreed we had taken every care and not done any damage. He advised that before any future work to seek advice from local badger trusts or groups.

Roll on to this winter the badgers had undermined a culvert and blocked the water course and heavy rain caused the culvert to wash away and collapse the sett. Called the local badger trust and a decent bloke came and advised us how to repair it all without getting into trouble. He even gave us a written report to show to anyone causing us problems.

P.s it was free advice!

The thought of asking advice from a local badger group to husband my own land just really annoys me, I can feel my hackles rise just reading the comments from the Police Wildlife Officer. The country seems to have gone mad!

 

[Flasheart]

The thought of asking advice from a local badger group to husband my own land just really annoys me, I can feel my hackles rise just reading the comments from the Police Wildlife Officer. The country seems to have gone mad!

You can just JFDI , but get it wrong , get caught, a huge fine and incur the wrath of every ecoloon till the end of time

 

[unlacedgecko]

You can just JFDI , but get it wrong , get caught, a huge fine and incur the wrath of every ecoloon till the end of time

Also, the badger act is one of very few whereby the burden of proof is reversed, and it's down to the defendant to prove innocence.

 

[Dry Rot]

I cannot see the sense in antagonising landowners who are in a unique position to keep an avuncular eye on wild life. Nor the sense is refusing to allow problems to be reasonably resolved within the law. There is no shortage of badgers.

In Europe, licences are issued for badgers to be reasonably controlled by hunting. Falconers in Germany are licensed to remove problem goshawks. I am sure there are plenty of similar examples. I have myself applied for, and got, licences to take wild raptors (sparrowhawks, merlins, and peregrines) for falconry or from where they were causing a problem. It requires understanding on both sides.

Why is it so difficult in the UK? Of course, if licences are not applied for the authorities assume there is no need and it becomes even more difficult for the minority who want to stay within the law. The British public, on the whole, are not stupid. Why let the loonies have it all their own way?