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Simon Lewis Photography
Making a statement without saying a word.
With its striking black-and-white face, powerful build and quiet, nocturnal presence, the European badger (Meles meles) is one of Britain’s most recognisable and beautiful wild mammals. More than a woodland icon, the badger is a sentinel species, reflecting the health of the landscapes it inhabits; its fortunes rise and fall with soil quality, biodiversity and the balance of rural ecosystems. Yet despite its protected status and deep cultural significance, the badger remains one of the most persecuted animals in the UK, subject to widespread culling and conflict driven by agricultural and political pressures. This uneasy contrast between admiration and hostility underscores the badger’s complex and contested place in modern Britain.