From time-to-time badgers will dig up the nests of rabbits, mice, rats and voles (as well as amphibians and small mammals and eat the young animals inside. Normally, adult rabbits and rats are far too quick or canny for a badger to be able to catch, but the young are often left static in a nest.

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Whilst some people complain about minor damages done by badgers (like rolling in fields, or garden damage), they may actually be secretly beneficial by helping to maintain a lower population of vermin species - like rabbits, rats and mice, which can cause even more damage.

Some badgers also eat hedgehogs. Some individual badgers, have learnt the skill of using their long claws and powerful feet to open up a hedgehog - even if it has rolled itself into a tight prickly ball. Importantly, this is not something every badger either will or can do, so some hedgehogs may be safe whereas others will be "at risk". If you ever come across a hedgehog "skin" - in other words, the skin, prickles, head and feet but no innards - it is likely that your badgers have learnt the trick.

Note though that badgers will also eat carrion (dead meat) - just because a badger is seen eating a hedgehog, it doesn't mean that it has actually killed it. After all, the badger may have just come across a dead hedgehog that it decides to eat (for example, dead after not coming out of hibernation or having been one of the very many run over on the roads).