Project: Badger Sett Closure in Nottingham

Client: Private Client

July 2009

Background

A badger sett was present within the garden of a residential home. The badger sett comprised of several holes which occupied approximately half of the garden. Due to the damage associated with the residential location of this sett, Natural England granted a licence for the closure of the sett. Natural England will normally only issue such licences for work to be carried out between the months of July and October inclusive, to avoid the breeding season.

Ecological Surveys Undertaken

EMEC Ecology carried out badger surveys of the site and the surrounding area in order to determine the badger use of the site. It was considered that the sett within the garden was an occasionally used outlier sett for a population of badgers, with a main sett close by.

Mitigation

Following the badger surveys, a licence application was submitted to Natural England. As part of this, details were provided on the proposed methods of closure for the sett.

One-way badger gates were installed on the sett entrances and the garden was covered in a thick wire mesh in order to prevent badgers digging further holes. The gates were left open for 7 days. This was then followed by a 21 day period with the gates shut. During this time the gates and wire mesh were monitored regularly for signs of badgers entering / leaving the sett or attempting to dig new holes within the garden. No badger activity was recorded within this period. Following the recommended time period, the gates and mesh were removed and the tunnels were dug out and back filled.

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