Tucked away underground in cosy chambers snug with clean bedding, badger cubs are being born. It may seem early in the year for this, as these tiny new creatures are entering a wintry world, but they stay in their warm burrows until ready to emerge at 8-10 weeks old into the welcoming spring.

At 12 weeks they are weaned onto the abundance of insects, worms and plant foods that the spring brings and have months to fatten up before the next winter.

They don’t open their eyes until they are five weeks old

During that initial 8-10 weeks underground, they may be safe from the harsh world above the burrow, but they are helpless to the threats that come from within it. The tiny cubs, one to five in a litter, are around 12cm long when born and have fused eyelids. They don’t open their eyes until they are five weeks old.

They are defenceless, and although badgers live in social groups, cubs are at risk if they threaten the dominance of high-ranking family members. Cubs born to subordinate sows may be killed by dominant females. Resident males may also kill cubs if unsure of their paternity (around half the cubs born to a colony can be fathered by non-resident boars).

However, once they have survived this vulnerable time, the cubs can go on to reach adulthood and live for 15 years in the wild.

You may know where your local badger sett (den) is located by spotting some of the entrances, but you may not realise the extent of the tunnels below the surface. Passages range from 35-81m long, and setts have up to 50 entrances.

These vast networks are passed down through generations of badgers over decades, and can accommodate several families at a time – as well as the occasional fox or rabbit! Each family has its own passages and chambers for sleeping and nesting, and they take good care of them.

They clear out old bedding regularly

Badgers are incredibly clean; they clear out old bedding regularly and bring in as many as 30 bundles of grass, moss, bracken and leaves on a dry night. During the winter, when finding new bedding is difficult, they may take their used bedding outside on sunny days and take it back in later after an airing.

Should an unfortunate badger expire in a sleeping chamber, the family will block the chamber off and dig a new one, or even move their dead outside and bury them.
For the cubs that manage to not fall victim to that fate early on, the future holds lots of playful new experiences as they discover life above ground. I’ll write more about that happy thought in next month’s article.