The badgers are active again and using the entrance they have dug in our garden to get under the wall to the main part of their sett next-door. Our neighbour’s garden is a magical looking wilderness but needs to be cleared. Like so many things in the centre of Bath, permission is needed to take down hedgerows or any non fruiting trees over a certain size of trunk. Forms, diagrams, photos are all needed. It is much the same for us to get permission to put a damp proofing membrane on the walls in the basement of our house.

Mr Wagstaff, the ‘Badger Man’, comes to inspect the badger damage early in September. The badgers’ breeding season will then be over and we hope to be able to get them moved from our back gardens. However, badgers on council land are protected – so they may not need to move very far.

As predicted, the badgers waited until the sweet corn was ripe before carrying out an audacious raid. Sweet corn and potatoes seem to be their main targets.