The Badger Face is a mysterious, endangered herbivore mostly to be found on the tops of Welsh Mountains - far from the madding crowd! The breed is extremely hardy and able to graze rough hills and terrain. At LettsSafari’s Dawlish Park we have one of the most southerly groupings of the Badger Face Torwen strain. The first newly born Badgers of the year have started appearing - a great time for our wildlife photographers to get out and about.

The Badger Face are handy mixed grazers keeping back invasive species such as creeping bramble, as well as being highly effective at spreading seeds given that they ingest a wide variety of grasses, flowers and plants. They even control gorse by eating back the yellow flowers. They love the wilds of LettsSafari’s Dawlish Park with its steep valley and healthy mix of wild grasses, open scrub and ancient woodland.

There are two sub-varieties of Badger Face. The Torddu are white with black markings and the Torwen are the opposite, being black with distinctive white markings. The small clutch of Badger Face at Dalwish Park are Torwen’s. They have been here for a few years and are becoming quite sought after for other conservation projects and for breeding up on the tops of Dartmoor.

The mothers are extremely protective when their newborn are just a few weeks old. They will fight off unwanted predators with a strong head-butt or a rigorous stamping of the front feet! Female power dictates that they do not need to seek out male assistance in many instances.

The mothers generally birth under the protective cover of the ancient woods on the eastern side of Dawlish Park. They will keep their newly born hidden in the woods for 2-3 days before bringing them out into the open ground to show them off to the other jealous mothers-in-waiting.

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Single youngsters will start mixing and playing with the other young Badgers after a week or two - but they will mostly stay close to their mothers. Twins can be more adventurous in their early stages. They keep the LettsSafari team on their toes!!

After 2 weeks the young will start eating grass and wild plants on their own and can be fully weaned by their mothers after a few months. The multiple wild males in Dawlish Park will stay close by (but not too close to have to get overly involved!) and remain mostly protective - particularly given that there are other males around to shoo away!

When the first new born Badger Face’s arrive in late February or early March it signals that spring is just around the corner. The sight of baby Badgers chasing each other at dawn or dusk is a most welcome sight for sore, wintry eyes.

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