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Surveying for badgers in relation to development includes an assessment of any impact there may be to badgers and their setts to establish if a licence will be needed. The size of a badgers sett and the directions in which the tunnels extend are assessed. For large scale developments it will also be necessary to establish how the badgers are using the proposed development area by looking at badger routeways and if necessary conducting bait marking surveys to establish where badger territories are.
As the badger becomes more urbanised the places where the animal chooses to live become less recognisable as classic badger setts. In these situations the badgers may be underneath buildings, hard standing areas, etc. Establishing usage and extent of the setts can be challenging.
For looking beneath structures we have developed BadgerCam. This is a small Remotely Operated Vehicle with an infra red black light camera. The ROV is operated via an umbilicus allowing the vehicle to move around the structure as well as being able to pan the camera. Images from the camera being viewed at the surface.
For situations where badgers have burrowed under open areas of hard standing We use Ground Penetrating Radar to establish the extent of the tunnel systems establishing potential threats to adjacent structures.
