Wildlife Advice

Badgers and their setts are protected by the law, but there are a few things you can do to deter badgers digging up your lawn. 
Firstly: are you sure it is badgers? Foxes also dig up lawns and flower beds but not as extensively as badgers. Foxes often leave droppings prominently on stones or mounds and these smell strongly. Badgers dig latrines and deposit their soft, dark droppings in them – and they hardly smell at all.
To determine if it is a badger visiting your garden you can you can put down some peanuts under a container weighted with a heavy stone or similar item.  While a fox wouldn’t be able to move the stone a badger will easily be able to.

Badger damage occurs usually in very dry weather when they are unable to access worms, a main constituent of their diets. Once the rain starts again, usually the damage stops.
Trying to stop badgers gaining access to your garden is almost impossible – they are powerful diggers and good climbers!
You can however try to stop them extending their digging area by putting down strong small-mesh wire netting on the lawn adjacent to the damaged areas but it needs to be very securely pegged down!

Also you can try putting peanuts down. The theory is that they will eat them in preference to digging for insect larvae or worms (on which badgers rely heavily).  We know that putting down peanuts has worked as these are much loved by badgers and doing so will help them get through a colder or drier spell when food is harder to find.  

And while not everyone warms to the following suggestion, there is certainly evidence that it works: namely, you can treat the edges of the digging (ie where new digging might take place) with liberal supplies of male (human) urine - the more the better. This is best applied (from a bottle in which it has been stored during the day) just before dusk so the smell is active longer during the night. (It may be best not to tell your neighbours about using this method!)

If you find a dead badger on a road you need to inform your district, borough or city council for disposal, but please also let us know for our Records Centre so we can monitor badger distribution across the county: speciesrecords@derbyshirewt.co.uk.  Giving as much detail as possible regarding the location.

If you find an injured badger please contact your local badger group and give them the details of where it is:

South Derbyshire, Richard Thornewill      rthornewill@sky.com, 07754 094177

Mid Derbyshire, David Hardie                     midderbyshirebadgergroup@gmail.com, 07843 808124

High Peak, Andy Welch or Debbie Bailey 07762 152815 or 07549 657679

If you have found an underweight hedgehog, you can call the numbers below for more information on what to do next.

Sally-Ann, Derby Hedgehog Rescue, Mackworth, Derby – 01332 381315

Chris Russell, Russell’s Prickly Rescue – 07815 621334   

Chesterfield Hedgehog Rescue and Rehabilitation - 07536 987232

Debbie, Furnace Vale, High Peak – 07827 330788

We would love to see what you have found.  Send us a photograph or a video with as much detail of what it looked like as possible – size, colour etc.  It helps with a photograph of a plant if you put something near it for scale, such as a coin.  Also if you could include where you saw it, what date and what time of day and send it to: speciesrecords@derbyshirewt.co.uk 

Bats are very small and can sometimes come down your chimney, roost in plant pots or find themselves inside your  house by accident.  If a single bat has found its way into a building by accident you can open the windows at dusk and it should find its way out again. Alternatively follow the advice on this page from the Bat Conservation Trust: Assess the situation - Bats in need of rescue - Bat Conservation Trust

If you are worried that the bat is injured or ill a Derbyshire Bat Group advisor will be available on: 07594 288920.

All bats and their roost sites are fully protected by law, even if bats are not present all the time. If you have bats in your roof, their access must not be impeded. 

If any problems are encountered with bats, or if any repair work to the roof is necessary, advice must be sought prior to any works being started.

Advice - Bat Conservation Trust (bats.org.uk)

If you’d like to encourage bats to visit your garden you can plant flowers to attract moths which then create a perfect meal for visiting bats: How to attract moths and bats to your garden | The Wildlife Trusts

There are many things you can do to make your garden more attractive for wildlife, from planting flowers to encourage insects and bees to providing homes and water sources.  See some of the tips below:

Wildlife gardening | The Wildlife Trusts

If you have a larger piece of land and are interested in making it wilder please get in touch on either enquiries@derbyshirewt.co.uk or the Trust office (01773 881188) and we’ll give you some more tailored advice.

If it is dead: it may have died of natural causes or it may have been killed illegally) eg by poisoning, shooting or trapping. If you suspect it has been illegally killed (eg there is a snare, trap or a dead rabbit/bird nearby or it is in on ground used for game shooting) do NOT disturb the crime scene – instead take photos and contact either the RSPB Investigations team or the local police (ask for a wildlife crime liaison officer).

If it is alive: Unless you have experience of handling larger birds do not do this yourself – contact a specialist organisation to come and rescue the bird:

Such a bird may be a falconer’s bird – if so it will have jesses/straps etc. and possibly a number for its owner….best leave the bird where it is. The owner will find it if its tag is working.

If it is a truly wild bird it may have nothing or perhaps a metal ring on its leg/s or even a wing marker or small tag on its back.
The bird may be injured due to being shot/trapped or be sick due to poisoning. Again, don’t touch it but do take photos, check if anyone is around/take car reg numbers etc. but don’t put yourself in danger.
Contact the RSPB or police as above for advice and/or contact Mike Berisford (local Raptor Rescue) 07970 860208 or National Raptor Rescue (08702 410609)  or RSPCA (0870 5555999). Again, tampering with a crime scene invalidates all evidence of that crime so do not touch the bird or anything else at the scene.

In urban and semi-urban areas foxes can often be found visiting or even living in gardens.  Foxes are generally very docile and will avoid confrontations with humans unless provoked, threatened or cornered.  They also do not want to fight with dogs or cats as they are more likely to come off worse.

If you wish to deter foxes the best thing is to check your boundaries for where foxes enter your garden and block these up where possible.  You may also need to make your garden less attractive to a fox for a while – so remove any pet feeding areas in the garden, stop using natural fertilisers (such as bonemeal, blood or fish based fertilisers) and block up entrances to gaps under sheds or decking.

If you are concerned about the well-being of a fox visiting your garden because its fur looks patchy you can contact another organisation for help (foxes are prone to mange which is caused by parasitic mites burrowing under the skin making the fox appear at best patchy with bald spots and at worst with major fur loss and wandering distressed at any point of the day).  To help foxes in this situation the best thing to do is to contact a specialist organisation such as Fox Guardians or The Fox Project: How can I help a fox with mange? - Fox Guardians

One of the most common bumblebees to find a home in your garden is the tree bumblebee (Bombus hypnorum).  Tree bumblebees only arrived in the UK in 2001 but have quickly spread across Britain and found themselves homes.  They love a nest box most of all, but they will also nest in a handy hole in a tree, fence or wall as well as the occasional compost heap.  You can confirm if your bee is a tree bumblebee here: Tree bumblebee | The Wildlife Trusts

The queens will be looking for somewhere to nest from March and by April-May her new colony will be visible and growing.  These bees only have relatively small colonies, unlike honey bees (200 would be a big colony). This is only active for about 5 months and most of the bees will have died by the end of July with only the new queens going on to have a second nest elsewhere or looking for somewhere to overwinter.  They can hover in groups outside the entrance to their homes tumbling down in acrobatic motions – but these are only the males waiting for the females to emerge and the males can’t sting you.

Bumblebees are important pollinators and tree bumblebees are useful as an additional pollinator in early spring to help with early flowering habitats such as orchards.  They do not complete with other bee species and they are not a threat to people.  However they don’t like strong vibrations which can make them swarm out to defend their nest.

The same bees don’t return to the same locations so you can always plug up the holes or re-site a birdbox once they have left if you weren’t comfortable with where they were nesting but otherwise welcome them in and enjoy their activities. You can even encourage other types of bee to visit you garden with some wildlife planting: The best plants for bees and pollinators | The Wildlife Trusts