State of the Badger

This project is available for public Spotting but Trapping is restricted. If you would like to join this project as a Trapper please contact us at info@mammalweb.org.

Peer into the secretive world of a badger clan while supporting Badger Trust in assessing the population status of badgers across England and Wales!

Despite protected status under the Protection of Badgers Act (1992) and the Bern Convention, the European badger (Meles meles) faces significant threats from habitat loss, road traffic collisions, and persecution in the UK. Furthermore, badgers have been extensively culled in England over the last decade in an attempt to control the spread of bovine tuberculosis, but population monitoring during this time has been lacking.

Badger Trust’s State of the Badger Project aims to address this, by undertaking a national badger population assessment in the coming years. Using a range of survey techniques, we plan to build a picture of the health and status of badger populations in England and Wales. This information will be crucial for ensuring their continued presence in our landscapes and for advising on future management strategies.

With the help of our network of Badger Champions, we have deployed camera traps to monitor badger activity across various locations. With your participation, we aim to deepen our understanding of how badger clan sizes and activity levels fluctuate based on habitat, and to observe how badger setts can benefit other wildlife.

Here’s where you come in: We need your help to classify footage from Badger Trust’s first large-scale camera trapping research project. As you watch these fascinating videos, you’ll see badgers playing, grooming, foraging, and even squabbling in their nightly routines. You might even spot other wildlife visitors!

Our camera traps are deployed in public spaces, and while camera traps have been placed in such a way to minimise humans being captured, there is the potential for footage to be captured of humans. Whilst every effort has been made to remove any videos containing humans, we cannot guarantee this. Consequently, some images containing humans may be shown for classification. Once these have been manually classified by Spotters as showing humans, they will not be shown again.

Your involvement is crucial for the success of this project. By helping us classify this footage, you’ll be contributing to vital research that supports badger conservation efforts across England and Wales. Join us in this exciting mission and make a difference for the future of badgers and the diverse wildlife that share their habitats.