Hidden cameras reveal the secret world of badgers

Badgers live in deep burrows, known as setts, and only come out to forage at night. Their brief daylight forays make it difficult to get a good understanding of their characters and as a wildlife artist I've always wanted to learn more.

So I built an underground badger sett and installed cameras into chambers within it in the hope that I could film their secret underground world. When I then learned of three young cubs that had been found wandering about on their own along a roadside, having clearly lost their mother, I grasped the opportunity to use my artificial badger sett. The three-month-old badgers cubs had been hand-reared by a local wildlife rehabilitation centre, but now needed more space. So I placed them into my secret sett for a month so they could get used to fending for themselves.

I let the cameras roll to see how they behaved as they got to know their new home. The resulting footage reveals a magical, secret world. I learned so much about badger behaviour, especially about how playful these creatures are, and I saw things I had never seen before. Simple things, like yawning, and how they groomed each other and slept were all new to me!  The day soon came to open the grill on the front of the sett and release them into the wild. These badgers had not seen or felt grass for a long time and it was so special to see them take their first steps outside.

Watch the Video

Click on the image below to watch a short film about how I built the sett and then introduced the badger cubs to their new home. I hope you enjoy the scenes of the three cubs exploring their new home and playing together inside - keep watching to see them take their first steps into the wild.

https://youtu.be/hnam_ik57pk

Click on the Image to Play | Music Credits www.zapsplat.com

Watch this film to see the painting this experience inspired

I learned so much about how badgers interact in their secret world and it wasn't long before I got my paintbrushes out. This next video follows my creative process when inspired by an experience like this. Click on the image below to play the video and see my latest painting come to life and scroll down to see more paintings inspired by the secret world of badgers.

https://youtu.be/edS_Neyv3j8

Click on image above to play the video

My Paintings of Badgers

Inspired by the Secret World of Badgers

The following paintings were inspired by my experience of watching badgers in my artificial sett.