The Neath Port Talbot Badger Group is based in Port Talbot, South Wales (UK). We are part of the Glamorgan Badger Group which is an association (pending) of the Glamorgan Wildlife Trust (a registered charity). The Glamorgan Badger Group have other similar groups which are active in Mid Glamorgan, South Glamorgan and Swansea.
We are a totally voluntary group with no paid officials.
Throughout the UK there are county and regional groups like ours, all such groups are members of the National Federation of Badger Groups (NFBG).
The main function of the badger group is to protect and promote the welfare of the badger. For instance, by protecting setts from baiters, limiting the effects of development and roads, rescuing and rehabilitating injured and orphaned badgers, and promoting public awareness.
We are involved in many activities, which include...
All our activities are funded by raising money through donations,
membership and sales at fetes etc.
This set of photos show a previous project where we are fencing
off a road watercourse underpass in an attempt to persuade badgers to walk
under the road, rather than across it. The road is somewhere in Wales
and had claimed many badgers since its opening some years ago (can't give
the precise location, sorry, as it might attract vandals and the like).
The actual work involved laying posts and fencing around the watercourse
tunnel so that badgers were 'directed' to use it. Fortunately the tunnel
did not flood and was usually quite dry for most of the year.
Although the task seemed straightforward there were a number of
difficulties.
For instance, it was not always possible to drive posts
into the ground because of layers of concrete and hardcore which lay
under the surface. Also, although the fencing could be buried where
it met the ground there was a problem where it needed to be fixed to
existing concrete around the tunnel entrances.
This picture on the left shows an underpass entrance (you can just see the light
at the other end) which badgers have now come to use. When we were working
at the site our members also had to walk through the tunnel to get from one
side of the road to the other. The tunnel was around four feet in diameter
and around 60 feet long. Most of it was fairly clean and not too muddy, but
in parts all sorts of creep-crawlies lay awaiting inside!
The final two pictures below show one side of the underpass tunnel entrance
before and after we had installed the fencing (seen from opposite angles).
Each tunnel side took about three days to complete and took on average
teams of four to five people.
The work was usually carried out at weekends when most of our members were
free. This type of activity is just one of the conservation tasks that the
Badger Group carries out every year.
If you would like to become involved in our work then please contact us (see 'How you can Help' page for details).