[Sue32]

I am looking at buying a new house which has what I'm pretty sure is a badger sett in teh garden.    Can't tell if the sett is current but looks quite clean (no debris in the hole) so I'm assuming it's in use.
The garden is just lawn at the moment but I really want to do a lot of flower, fruit and veg beds. 
I haven't tried to live with Badgers before so would like to know  how much and what type of damage do they do.   

[janet12000]

badgers do loads of damage!
my parents have badgers in their garden, and they have caused so much damage.
They dig holes everywhere and have wrecked the garden fences!

[DavidT]

I have clients who have a sett in the garden and I have to admit I have never seen any damage from them. The rabbits however.....................

[Mosslane]

We don't have a set in the garden but nearby, we don't get much damage but we do leave peanuts and dog food out during their heavy feeding months i.e. March to August and this seems to placate them. As DavidT says the rabbits are a different story and we are hoping to find a local ferreter to come and help us get rid of a few, we are overrun with the blighters and they are a real pest along with the pheasants.

[Sue32]

thanks - does having a dog help discourage them (spaniel not a terrier) or are they so big that they  don't care?

[DavidT]

Badgers are Britains biggestl carnivore.

[Sue32]

eeek!!

[Salmo]

No need to panic, badgers are omnivores.

Your main worry will be that they dig up bulbs and tubers and make holes in the lawn hunting for worms. If you are really lucky they will use these holes as latrines.

If they decide to expand their sett just be amazed at the amount of earth they can move in a night.

On the plus side, if you have a rabbit problem they will dig out the babies and eat them.

[8doubles]

Sometimes badger setts and rabbit buries overlap and the badgers tend to leave the bunnies alone, perhaps they look on them as a larder if the weather gets hard.
Most off the rabbit breeding stops (nest tunnels) that get dug out by badgers are well away from the badger sett.

As much as i like badgers i would not want them in my garden* and that is without even considering the TB debate.

* Unless i win the lottery and my garden is 400 acres.

[Loubs]

Much as I love my garden, if I was looking to move I think I might seriously BUY a house just because it had a badger sett in the garden. Lovely creatures.

[madcat]

They adore sweetcorn!  You probably wont be able to grow that ...  There is a sett not far from our allotment site and that is all they stage raiding parties for - otherwise they let us be.

[Steven Rowe]

blooming badgers.. they make a hell of a mess, they make the ground look like a ploughed field, im forever repairing dykes when they dig under them and the walls fall into there sets, id watch your dog around the set to, my cocker is for ever trying to get down into the set, think its the smell,