The badger lives an underground home called a sett. Their setts are usually situated in small clearings in woodland or copses. The sett will be obvious to those who know what to look for, as the ground around the used entrances will probably be free of vegetation, and may be muddy and may show evidence of badger prints. There may also be evidence of latrines (holes in the ground) nearby, into which badgers do their poo.

A simple sett is made up of a single tunnel, with a sleeping chamber at the end. However, most setts have several entrance holes, and lots of tunnels which link up with each other. The tunnels also link up with sleeping and nursery chambers. The tunnels may have several interlinking passages underground; and may also be arranged so as to provide a constant supply of clean fresh air through the sett in most weathers. Accordingly, entrances may sometimes be on different levels to help stale air rise through the sett and be dissipated into the surrounding woodland.

Well-established setts normally have several entrances which are much larger than rabbit holes, and which have large piles of earth outside. The sett consists of large chambers for sleeping and breeding and small ones used as latrines, interlinked by a maze of tunnels.

A really big sett can have from 50 to 100 or more entrance holes. A sett this big will have been dug out by lots of badgers, over many years. There are some setts which are known to be over a hundred years old. Many generations of badgers have lived in these setts.

One study found a well-established sett in the Cotswolds with twelve entrances had tunnels totalling 310 metres. It was estimated that the badgers had excavated 25 tonnes of soil throughout the years to create this complex. Tunnels can be four metres deep, though most are less than one metre underground and often follow surface contours. This helps with air circulation, while ventilation holes sometimes connect a tunnel to the surface.

Badgers like to dig their setts where the ground is easy to dig. Sandy soil is a favourite, because it is easy to dig, and it stays drier than other soils. Chalk and broken limestone is also popular. Badgers do not like digging into clay, as this is wet and sticky. Even so, badgers will sometimes make setts in clay, if they can't find anywhere else.

Badgers also like to dig where there is a good slope, such as on the side of a hill, or in a bank. Water drains away better on a slope, and this means that the sett stays dry.

Badgers dig their setts in many different habitats. Woodlands and hedgerows are good places to find badger setts, but badgers will also dig their setts in open fields, moorland, sand dunes, old quarries, abandoned mine workings and even sea cliffs!

Sett Types

The following sett categories are recognised:

Main setts
Annex setts
Subsidiary setts
Outlying setts

Main Setts

These usually have a large number of holes with large spoil heaps, and the sett generally looks well used. They usually have well used paths to and from the sett and between sett entrances. Although normally the breeding sett is in continual use, it is possible to find a main sett that has become disused because of excessive digging or for some other reason, in which case it is recorded as a disused main sett.

Annex Setts

These are always close to a main sett, usually less than 150 m away, and are usually connected to the main sett by one or more obvious, well worn paths. They consist of several holes, but are not necessarily in use all the time, even if the main sett is very active.

Subsidiary Setts

These often these have only a few holes, are usually at least 50 m from a main sett, and do not have an obvious path connecting them with another sett. They are not continuously active.

Outlying Setts

These usually only have one or two holes, often have little spoil outside the hole, have no obvious path connecting them with another sett, and are only used sporadically. When not in use by badgers, they are often taken over by foxes or even rabbits. However, they can still be recognised as badger setts by the shape of the tunnel (not the entrance hole), which is at least 250 mm in diameter and rounded or flattened oval in shape.

NOTE Whilst these categories look clear cut, classification might be difficult in the field. In areas of low badger density, main setts may be relatively small, with only a few holes, and in moorland and hill areas, main setts may consist of only one or two entrances in a rocky cairn. One should not necessarily expect to find examples of all sett types in a particular area. Many badger social groups do not have an annex sett, whilst in poor badger habitat, large areas may be searched without finding a main sett. These factors must be taken into account when classifying a sett, and it is important to have an overall view of all the setts in an area before making a decision on the status of each sett.

Other Residents

Badger setts are often used by other animals as well as badgers. Rabbits often live in badger setts. Foxes will also rear their young in setts. These animals live in small setts, or parts of larger setts, which are not being used by badgers at the time.

Further Information

If you are intrigued by what a sett is like underground, Badger (Meles meles) setts: architecture, internal environment and function by Roper in the journal Mammal Review (1992) volume 22 number 1 pages 43 to 53, describes the complexes of chambers, nests and latrines, tunnel systems, temperature and humidity conditions, and possible behavioural functions of differently sized setts.