How Trail Cameras Are Advancing Badger Conservation Efforts
Badger Trust advocates for the welfare, conservation and protection of badgers, along with their habitats and setts, envisioning a world where badgers are revered as integral to our rich wildlife heritage and safeguarded from persecution.
NatureSpy are thrilled to support Badger Trust as they prepare for the State of the Badger survey in England and Wales. In this Q&A, Victoria Coulton, Research Coordinator at Badger Trust, tells us more about the survey and shares insights into the role of trail cameras, along with some brilliant clips from the cameras...
What is the State of the Badger survey, and why is it important for badger conservation in England and Wales?
State of the Badger is an ambitious project by the Badger Trust to improve our understanding of the population status and health of badgers in England and Wales.
Badgers are at risk from many threats, including road traffic collisions, habitat loss, persecution and climate change. In addition, since the last national population survey of badgers was conducted, half of the estimated population have been culled across southern England as part of the government’s efforts to control bTB in cattle. The impact of all these factors on badger populations is not known, nor is the impact of losing badgers on our native ecosystems.
Through State of the Badger, we hope to answer some of the questions regarding badger populations and threats, providing vital data on the current status of badger populations in England and Wales. Over the last year, we have been testing methods and approaches for various aspects of this as part of our pilot study.
A comfy spot to catch up on some grooming
In preparation for the full scale survey, how were trail cameras used in the State of the Badger pilot study?
To know how many badgers there are in England and Wales, we need to know two things: the number of badger social groups, or ‘clans’, and how many badgers, on average, live in those clans. While surveying of main setts can indicate how many social groups there are, the shy, elusive nature of badgers makes counting group sizes a bit more difficult. We know that clan sizes vary depending on the environment they are found in, and genetic techniques have previously been used to estimate average size of clans (1). However, culling has altered the social bonds of groups (2, 3), so new data is needed to ensure that we are using accurate information to estimate badger population sizes.
As an alternative to genetic testing, we investigated if camera traps could be used as a less invasive and less expensive way to estimate badger clan sizes. Thanks to the generous donation of camera traps from NatureSpy, we undertook camera trap surveys at main badger setts to test if and how this can be achieved, and whether the methods would be possible over large scales.
We tested different camera trap settings and approaches to calculating group sizes, while capturing some amazing footage of the secretive world of the badger clan. While we found this method is promising to estimate badger clan sizes, further research is needed to validate our results.
Venturing out of the sett
Were there any unique or interesting badger behaviours caught on camera?
We captured so many brilliant clips of badger behaviour – it’s hard to narrow it down!
Watching the badgers go through their daily routines of grooming, foraging, playing and cleaning out their setts was so interesting to watch, especially with two cubs present at our setts providing endless entertainment as they played and explored their world. The following video montage shows some of the best bits we captured on our camera traps.
Morning belly scratches, allogrooming, falling off branches, dragging bedding into the sett and play fighting.
If you could share one memorable moment or favourite video from the trail cameras, what would it be?
Some of my most memorable clips were surprisingly not from badgers! I really enjoyed seeing regular wildlife visitors to the sett by fox, deer and lots of different birds, which highlighted how important badgers and these habitats are for wildlife.
A very memorable observation was at a sett entrance where we had sadly spotted a dead badger just inside the tunnel when we had deployed the camera traps. A fox returned night after night to dig at this entrance, before pulling the badger carcass out completely and running off with it. But the most interesting thing was what happened next - the badgers had not been using that entrance, but when the fox cleared it out for them, the hole became active again. I thought this was a brilliant example of how the presence of one animal in an ecosystem can impact another.
Were there any challenges you encountered while conducting the pilot study?
The biggest challenges we faced were figuring out the best positioning around the setts that would enable us to calculate social group sizes.
Initially, we needed to set up camera traps to see all of the sett entrances, with the plan to count how many badgers left and entered the sett every day. However, after our first trial, it became clear that this was not going to work – there were limited places where we could mount the camera traps, and the field of view on sett entrances was often too narrow, resulting in badgers being missed if they ran in and out of setts too quickly. The biggest lesson learned was that we needed to get to know the sett and the habitat around it before beginning our study. After servicing the cameras after the first test week, we started to see which paths were used the most, and which areas the badgers preferred to play or groom each other each night – these were the best spots to place cameras to capture as many individuals gathering in one clip as possible – the best way to know how many badgers are in a sett for certain!
What was the most rewarding part of conducting the pilot study?
We don’t often get to see the intimate moments of badger’s lives, so it was brilliant to be able to watch them groom each other, play and forage. Although it is near impossible to recognise an individual badger, when watching the clips of their lives for a few weeks, you do start to see different personalities come through - whether it’s the bouncy cubs or the grumpy boar!
What are the next steps for launching the full State of the Badger survey?
The pilot phase of the project taught us a great deal about the feasibility of expanding different elements of this project. We are now in the stage of refining our method proposals and applying for funding to complete the next phase of the project, which will likely be a more intensive regional study, where we can draw upon all of the different aspects of research we tested through the pilot, and apply them together in one place.
Our thanks to Victoria and the team at Badger Trust for sharing these fascinating insights from the field! Learn more about Badger Trust here.
References
1. Judge, J., Wilson, G.J., Macarthur, R., McDonald, R.A. and Delahay, R.J., 2017. Abundance of badgers (Meles meles) in England and Wales. Scientific Reports, 7(1), p.276.
2. Carter, S.P., Delahay, R.J., Smith, G.C., Macdonald, D.W., Riordan, P., Etherington, T.R., Pimley, E.R., Walker, N.J. and Cheeseman, C.L., 2007. Culling-induced social perturbation in Eurasian badgers Meles meles and the management of TB in cattle: an analysis of a critical problem in applied ecology. Proceedings of the Royal Society B: Biological Sciences, 274 (1626), pp.2769-2777.
3. Vicente, J., Delahay, R.J., Walker, N.J. and Cheeseman, C.L., 2007. Social organization and movement influence the incidence of bovine tuberculosis in an undisturbed high‐density badger Meles melesJournal of Animal Ecology, 76(2), pp.348-360.
