Badgers

tombrown

Great to see these animals hanging around, but this year they have been rampant and every time they visit (about once a week) they leave the lawn like a ploughed field.

I did some googling for ideas on how to harmlessley deter them:

Sprayed urine (male - mine) around the perimeter - this seemed to work in previous years but not this year. Also left a very unpleasant odour in the knapsack sprayer :)

Got a bunch of cheap solar powered motion triggered flood lights and placed them around the garden on stakes - thought they were working to start with but the other night, noticed one was on when I went to bed, so looked out the window and there was a badger, under the light digging away. I could just about hear him saying "thanks for this, couldn't see where I was going before" :)

Been away for a few days and came back to what looks like a battlefield.

So, any suggestions (that do not involve guns or poison, obviously), or do I just have to live with it?

HazeDoll

https://www.boards.ie/discussion/2058359244/badgers

Leave them.

Get a night vision scope and start badger-watching. Learn to recognise them, give them names, get your friends around to watch them too.

I don't know how rural or urban your lawn is but if badgers are returning to it to forage despite the lights, that means they need it as a resource. If you find a way to deter them you have reduced their habitat and increased their difficulties.

If somebody points out the spots where they have been digging say proudly "Yes, our badgers have been busy."

Don't listen to anybody that tries to tell you that they're dangerous.

Rows Grower

You sure it's more than one badger?

The amount of ground one can dig over a night if the pickings are good is considerable.

It might just be one and might be an elderly one, they give less f*cks about anything when they get old and tired.

tombrown

Thanks

May be just one, but he is a busy boy (or she is a busy girl).

I'm in the countryside & surrounded by a massive field, woodland and the river Fergus; if my lawn is the only source of sustenance for the poor soul, then god help him/her.

I may just live with it if there are no easy or safe options - it was never a golf course anyway.

I never, for a second, considered them dangerous

HazeDoll

Years ago I had cameras out and got lots of lovely footage of badgers snoffling around, playing and flirting. I put clips on facebook (this was back when non-crazies used facebook) and showed the videos to everybody I met. Then a friend of a friend wandered up to me at a BBQ and said, "Oh, you're the one with the badger problem. I could drop over some evening and shoot them for you. It's no bother at all. Seriously, I don't mind." He took some dissuading. He thought I was being polite or something when I kept saying, "But I LIKE the badgers."

So maybe keep them to yourself….

looksee

https://www.boards.ie/discussion/comment/122369219#Comment_122369219

This. Keep it to yourself or you may find people taking an interest in the surrounding field.

The Continental Op

https://www.badgertrust.org.uk/post/garden-tips-for-living-alongside-badgers

if they are digging into the lawn, they are probably looking for insect larvae beneath the roots of the grass, especially from Cockchafer beetle (May bug) and Leather Jacket (Cranefly).

https://www.which.co.uk/reviews/gardening-through-the-year/article/garden-pests/how-to-get-rid-of-leatherjackets-in-your-lawn-a2yIN4O6I2YP

rje66

https://www.boards.ie/discussion/comment/122371654#Comment_122371654

This. They love the larve. There us a nematode u can get to eradicate the larve and thus the badgers coming in.

BTW I love badgers too

Slutmonkey57b

So where do I get some larvae to dump in the lawn and attract the badgers?

I'd be husband of the year if my wife could watch badgers of an evening in the garden.

Rows Grower

https://www.boards.ie/discussion/comment/122672081#Comment_122672081

There'd need to be setts close to where you are living if you want to see them in your garden, they usually don't stray very far from home.

The Continental Op

https://www.boards.ie/discussion/comment/122672160#Comment_122672160

Look first thing in the morning at all the grass in the area, badgers make a very obvious run and if they are around you can normally see the runs quite easily in the morning due.