Badgers are an iconic but often controversial part of British wildlife. Loved on the one hand and portrayed affectionately in literature, for example, in The Wind in the Willows (Kenneth Grahame) and Badger’s Parting Gift (Susan Varley), though less kindly drawn in Watership Down (Richard Adams) with its “eyes full of savage cunning…” Nevertheless, badgers in Children’s literature, often heavily anthropomorphised, usually represent steadiness, loyalty, kindness and wisdom.

On the other hand, badgers are demonised. Described as pests or vermin, and are portrayed as vicious or even cruel. They are not the only native wildlife to attract such labels, but I will save an examination of that for another blog. For now, I will focus on how I came to write a story through the eyes of badgers.

As an animal-mad, nature-loving child, I occasionally brought home injured wildlife – a habit tolerated by my parents! I remember rescuing a crow that had been shot, finding a very young hedgehog out in the daytime, and trying to capture a fox with a trap on its leg. The local butcher was not impressed when I said the mince I was buying was for a crow! The crow recovered after a couple of weeks and was successfully released, returning whenever I called him and riding on my shoulder!

I failed to catch the fox, but I heard later that a three-legged fox was seen in the area. Sadly, the hedgehog didn’t make it. Of course, I now know better than to try and ‘rescue’ wild animals on my own, and I would always be calling on Cuan Wildlife Rescue for their expert advice these days!

I have always loved telling stories, and I never stopped believing I could talk to animals. Eventually, when I came to write my stories down, they had animals at their heart. When I wrote my first book, Little Viking Horse (stay with me, this is connected to the badger book!), I had grand aspirations to be like Anna Sewell, Author of Black Beauty. I wanted my book to change how people thought about horses. I was delighted when several readers told me that my book had made them think more deeply about how horses might feel and how they communicate. One reader said that my book ‘changed her relationship with her horse.’ That was the best feedback I could’ve got. 

I hope The Badger Resistance Army will have a similar effect, encouraging a greater empathy with wild animals, particularly what I call ‘marmite animals’ (love them or hate them!)  To tell the story, I have had to anthropomorphise the badgers somewhat. However, I don’t write ‘animals with clothes on,’ and I have tried to keep the badgers badger-like in much of their behaviour.

But why did I write this particular story?

One Christmas, several years ago, my brother bought a ‘badger resistance’ T-shirt for my late husband. I was thinking about writing the Viking horse story at the time, and throwing around ideas for titles. My brother piped up with, ‘Little Viking Horse and The Badger Resistance Army’, and I wrote it in my notebook.

Over the next few years, whilst I was learning the craft of creative writing and penning the horse story, the idea for The Badger Resistance Army was brewing in my mind. I read and watched everything I could about badgers, and gradually my notebook filled up with snippets of stories that people told me, such as the time a badger ran through my dad’s legs to escape a narrow alley. My friend Mic, who has drawn beautiful wildlife illustrations for the book, told me about a badger causing havoc, coming in through the cat-flap, eating the cat food and peeing in the bowls! Both of these incidents made it into the book.

So, the title was in my head, and the plot was starting to come together. I had captured lots of stories and watched some wonderful videos, particularly from Mal Ingram and Looking for Badgers (on Instagram), because, unfortunately for me, I’ve rarely seen live badgers close up!

Ironically, while researching for this story, I discovered that the first badger to be confirmed with bovine tuberculosis in 1971 was in Thornbury, Gloucestershire – where I grew up. It was quite a moment for me. Because I remember a large badger sett very near our house.  But I don’t remember knowing about the gassing of badgers between 1975 and 1981, right on my doorstep. We didn’t have social media back then, and for all its problems, it certainly makes information more accessible. This ‘discovery’ felt very poignant, as I began to write a story of a badger and a girl, who was the same age that I was at that time.

The book includes the struggles of other wildlife, such as the shooting of foxes, and the terrible penalty moles pay for upsetting people about their tidy lawns. Telling stories through the eyes of animals has become a passion of mine, but it’s not just about the animals. Their stories can also teach us about ourselves and how we engage with the natural world, and with one another. Little Viking Horse contains themes of loss, trust, bullying, and learning to listen and appreciate other perspectives. The Badger Resistance Army has themes of community, family conflict, conflict resolution, peace, having faith in our power to create change, and ultimately the idea that there has to be space for us all to live.

In The Badger Resistance Army, the story centres on how young badger Nim, with 12-year-old Sally’s help, can defend her woodland home. In doing so, she realises that if human minds can be opened, perhaps they can achieve something greater and bring about a new peace between humans and the Folk of the Field and Forest.