4
THE ESSEX NATURALIST
natural forest and man's influence on the land surface was re-
latively small, perhaps the badger was only found on sandy hill
slopes, for it is here that the thickest populations and largest
setts are found. But over the last five hundred years Essex has
become intensively farmed, with urban development over the
last one hundred years engulfing perhaps a tenth of the County's
land surface and the area of undisturbed land available for bad-
gers to build their setts has greatly diminished.
Conversely, it is possible that land reclamation works around
the coast and land drainage operations over the whole County
have extended the animal's distribution into areas which were
formerly coastal salt marsh or where the water table was just be-
low ground level. Because of the lack of earlier records this is
conjectural, but it is most unlikely that Islands such as Two Tree
or Canvey could have supported badgers before their enclosure
with the sea walls after the Middle Ages. They would have been
subject to frequent flooding and have lacked suitable feeding
grounds.
In addition to farming operations and urban development, the
badger today has to contend with man's game preservation and
rural sporting activities, the motor car, man's leisure activities
including badger watching, general pollution and chemical pesti-
cides, All these factors may be affecting their current distri-
bution to some degree.
The Badger and Human Disturbance
Badgers have adapted to live with man to some extent. Setts
occur in close proximity to human habitations in many parts of
southern Essex particularly on Canvey Island, around Benfleet,
Langdon Hills and Brentwood. Here access to feeding grounds
seems to be most important for although the badger is an
omnivore, he needs open ground to find worms, insects, etc.,
which form a considerable proportion of his diet. So long as the
sites of their setts remain relatively undisturbed and sufficient
areas of open and wooded land are available for feeding pur-
poses, the badgers seem able to survive even though their setts
may be within ten yards of buildings or gardens.
A sett in Rectory Wood, Harlow, was surrounded by resi-
dential building for the New Town from about 1960 onwards. In
1962 complaints were made to the Development Corporation by
the new residents of the area whose gardens came to within ten
feet of the badger holes. Indeed it was almost possible to sit in
the wood, watch the badgers and the televisions in the houses
behind at the same time! One badger was safely moved to Hain-
ault Forest but although the animal was marked with pig mark-
ing dye, its success in its new territory is unknown as it was never
subsequently recognised. The sett in Harlow continued to be
used until the end of 1964, but the fate of the other animals in
the sett, three of which had been seen in 1962, is unknown.