Investigation of badger (Meles meles) setts using soil resistivity measurements

Eight badger (Meles meles L.) Setts (two main setts, four subsidiaries, one annex and one outlier) were surveyed by means of soil resistivity and magnetometry techniques, of a type normally used for the detection of buried archaeological remains. The results were compared with data concerning the underground sleeping locations adopted by radio-collared badgers in the same setts. Of the eight resistivity surveys, six gave sufficiently detailed results for the overall size of the setts in question to be determined and for some features of the constituent tunnel systems to be discerned. Areas of low resistivity matched locations where radio-collared badgers were found to sleep, so presumably corresponded with underground tunnels and chambers. Magnetometry surveys were not successful, probably because tunnels and chambers were too deep to be detected by this method.