From occasional footprints in sand or snow we had long known that there were badgers on the Hinterland. In the last few years, however, badger activity has increased significantly.
Until 2016, badger signs were few and far between, and most were seen out by the wind turbines – including ‘snuffle holes’, the trademark badger feeding sign. Earth worms can be a significant part of badgers’ diet, accounting for up to 80% of their food. Sand dunes support very few earth worms, however, and so we expected that badgers would be spending most of their time on the nearest long-established grassland areas, to the east of the Hinterland.
In 2016, a badger latrine was discovered on the edge of Wilkies Wood, possibly an indication of the edge of a badger territory. Until this point there had been only occasional signs of badgers in Wilkies Wood, despite woodland normally being a favoured habitat. The latrine was checked a year later, but had disappeared, indicating that possibly activity there was not well established.
In 2017, a suite of ecological surveys was undertaken for the ecological impact assessment for North Whins housing development. These included surveys of habitats, protected mammals, birds, reptiles, and amphibians. As part of the mammal survey, four trail cameras were deployed, for three months. These recorded a badger on three nights only, at the fence by Cullerne Pond, feeding on migrating toads.
This fleeting sighting seemed to support the notion that badgers were moving through the Hinterland only occasionally and were most likely based near to grassland habitats to the east – a theory supported later by the discovery of a well-used ‘sett’ (badger home) there. Around this time, however, signs of badger foraging began to be noted more frequently within the woodland.
While sand is not good for badger foraging, it is good for digging setts. Setts are often found in gorse, which provides dense, prickly, protection. Due to the confirmed presence of badgers (albeit possibly a single animal with a penchant for toads) all vegetation clearance for construction at North Whins was preceded by a badger survey, to ensure that construction did not harm them, and compliance with legislation – badgers being specially protected by law.
Survey for gorse clearance in spring of 2025 revealed an active sett within the development area. This sett was likely to have been only recently created, a theory supported by another, more visible, sett close-by – growing from a single entrance to five entrances over the space of a year. After apparently years of passing through, badgers had clearly set up home at Park Ecovillage Findhorn and adjoining Hinterland.
With this new awareness, it was important that the FHT’s 2026 dune restoration work – involving converting a small area of dense gorse to bare sand for rare and threatened insects, lichens, and fungi – did not impact on badgers. A badger survey was duly carried-out and to our amazement another small badger sett was found! As a result, the gorse clearance area was amended to ensure that a minimum distance of 30m was maintained from any burrow which might potentially be used by badgers, with 67m to the burrows which could be identified as definitely badger.
In sand, rabbit burrows can become much larger than normal, often leading people to think that rabbit burrows are badger setts. Badger setts in sand are typically distinguished from rabbit warrens by the large amount of excavated spoil, the configuration of entrances, presence of clearly defined badger paths, footprints and large digging claw marks, badger hair and bedding, and presence of latrines nearby. Rabbit burrows, though often larger than they would be in other substrates, often have rabbit droppings outside.
Potential confusion does not end there, because ‘outlier’ badger setts (usually just one or two entrances, often with little excavated spoil, and used mainly for short periods of rest) may not be used for periods of several months, during which time they may be used by rabbits. There is further uncertainty too, as outliers are also occasionally used as breeding setts by badgers.
‘Camera trapping’ with trail cameras is a reliable method of confirming badger activity at potential setts. Near to the North Whins Firepit, camera trapping has confirmed that the burrows there are all used by rabbits. One burrow is larger than the others, however, with more spoil, and even though it is used by rabbits cannot be discounted as an outlier badger sett, used sporadically – especially as camera images showed that a badger visited several times (but did not enter or emerge from the burrow).
Why have badgers moved-into the area? One reason could be the age of Wilkies Wood. Over some seventy years the soil here is likely to begun to develop a good earthworm population.
Creation and maintenance of wide grassy firebreaks by the FHT may also have improved foraging conditions, including through boosting the rabbit population. While earthworms are a staple food, they are not vital. Where worms are in poor supply, badgers can switch to just about anything edible which is available – including plant foods, toads, and rabbits. Rabbits are now quite scarce in the landscape, because of myxomatosis and rabbit haemorrhagic disease. The Findhorn peninsula is fortunate to have a healthy population, which has a very valuable role in helping to maintain the rare dune heath, through nibbling gorse shoots. It is interesting to note that one of the new setts is in a dune restoration area, cleared of gorse in 2020, which appears to have led to an increase in rabbit numbers. Another potential food is hedgehogs, so a hedgehog caught on camera at one of the setts in June was perhaps living a little dangerously.
