The brief
A coastal flood defence bund was to be built on the site of a badger sett in Shoeburyness, Essex, by the local borough council.
Under the Protection of Badgers Act 1992 it is an offence to interfere with or disturb an occupied sett, so Thomson Habitats were asked to close the sett under licence prior to the works commencing and encourage the badgers into a new artificial sett nearby.
What we did
- Installed 50 one-way badger gates
- Surrounded the existing setts with netting (pinned to the ground with posts) to prevent the badgers from entering
- Constructed an artificial sett (covering an area of 1200m2) consisting of eight nesting chambers, and connecting the chambers by a network of pipes. The sett was buried to a depth of at least 1250mm.
The outcome
Once completed, the sett was baited to encourage the badgers to use it. Photographic evidence showed that within just one week badgers were occupying the artificial sett.
This project was a great opportunity for Thomson to showcase our construction skills and involved installing over a hundred metres of tunnel and eight nesting chambers. The project was a great success and a survey of the artificial sett revealed the badgers using it after only a few days.
Thomson project manager, Badger Sett Creation, Shoeburyness
