Eleven o'clock at night, and something is digging up the lawn. By morning there's a scatter of soil, a hole under the fence and a smell you can't quite place. Plenty of garden wildlife enquiries start exactly like that, and a good number of them turn out to be foxes rather than badgers.

The two animals share our gardens, our towns and most of our countryside, and they can leave surprisingly similar-looking mess behind. Once you know what to look for, though, separating them is straightforward. It comes down to feet, droppings, digging and a handful of behavioural habits.

Tracks and footprints: five toes or four?

After rain, or in a bed you've just watered, footprints are the clearest single clue you'll get.

A badger is built for digging, not running. It walks flat-footed, putting the whole foot down, so its prints are broad and heavy. You should be able to count five toes in a wide arc, with long, obvious claw marks ahead of them. The main pad is large and kidney-shaped, with the toes set well in front of it. A front print can be 6–7cm across — a big, floppy-looking thing.

A fox is a runner. It walks on its toes, so the print is smaller, neater and more compact, usually 4–5cm wide. Count four toes, not five. Behind them sits a triangular pad with a notch in the front edge, and in good ground you may see the faint impression of fur between pad and toes. Claws rarely show unless the mud is very soft, because a fox keeps them tucked away.

Then look at the pattern the prints make:

• Badger: a short, wandering stride with prints fairly close together, often angled, as if the animal has been nosing about rather than going anywhere in particular.
• Fox: a long, straight line along paths, fence lines and lawn edges, with the back foot often landing almost exactly in the print left by the front foot.

If a trail looks as if someone has rolled a set of dice across the mud, think badger. If it looks drawn with a ruler, think fox.

Droppings and latrines: the quickest giveaway

Badgers use latrines. These are shallow scrapes dug into the soil, often along a territorial boundary, beside a path or at the edge of a lawn, and they usually contain several droppings rather than one. You may find a row of small pits a few metres apart. The droppings themselves are dark and often cylindrical, though they can be loose and pappy in late summer when the badgers are eating berries — look for visible seeds, fruit stones or insect remains. Badgers rarely leave their droppings on top of anything.

Foxes do the opposite. A fox leaves a single dropping, and it puts it somewhere conspicuous: a garden path, a stone, a tussock of grass, a log, occasionally on a shed roof or a garden bench. Fox scat is usually twisted with tapered ends, often packed with hair, feathers, small bones or fruit pips, and it carries a strong musky smell that lingers for days. Once you've met that smell, you won't confuse it with anything else.

Handle either with gloves, bag it and bin it, and wash your hands afterwards — badger droppings can carry bovine TB, and fox scat may contain worms or other parasites that can affect pets and people. Never compost carnivore droppings for the vegetable patch.

Digging and damage: holes, scrapes and lawn wreckage

Both animals dig, but they dig for different reasons and leave different signatures.

Badgers dig for food. They are mad for earthworms, and a single badger can hoover up hundreds in a night. Their foraging holes are small, conical pits — often called “snuffle holes” — about 5–10cm deep and scattered randomly across a lawn or flowerbed. You’ll also find larger excavations if they are making or extending a sett. A badger sett is a serious engineering project: a network of tunnels and chambers, often with large spoil heaps outside and well-worn paths leading to the entrances. Setts are usually in woodland or hedgerows, but badgers will sometimes dig under a shed, patio or fence line. Because badgers are heavy and powerful, their diggings look purposeful and tidy, with the soil pushed back into a neat mound.

Foxes dig for a few reasons: to cache food, to hunt small mammals, and to create a den. Their holes are usually smaller and messier. A fox caching a bit of chicken will scrape a shallow hole, drop the food in, and cover it with soil and leaves — you may find bits of food wrapper or bone nearby. When they dig for earthworms or grubs, the holes are similar to a badger’s but shallower and less frequent. Fox dens are often under sheds, decking or tree roots, and the entrance is a roundish hole about 20cm across with a tell-tale scatter of soil and a strong musky smell. Unlike badgers, foxes will also tear open bin bags, scatter rubbish and chew garden furniture — badgers almost never do this because they can’t climb and aren’t interested in our leftovers.

Behaviour, timing and other clues

Badgers are social, nocturnal and creatures of habit. They live in family groups and use the same paths night after night, so you may notice a well-worn track through the grass leading to a sett. They are rarely seen in daylight, though in quiet gardens they may emerge at dusk. If you’re lucky enough to spot one, it’s unmistakable: a low, heavy body, grey fur, a black-and-white striped face and a short, bushy tail. Badgers are also surprisingly noisy — listen for gruff churring, snuffling and the occasional sharp bark.

Foxes are solitary or live in small family groups, and they are far more adaptable. In towns, they often lose their fear of people and can be seen sunbathing on a shed roof at midday. They are agile climbers and jumpers, which is why they can raid bird tables, bins and even reach a low roof. Their calls are varied and eerie: a vixen’s scream sounds like a child in distress, while dogs bark and both sexes make a chilling “gekkering” sound. Foxes also have a very distinctive smell — a musky, almost skunky odour that clings to the fur and to anything they’ve marked. Badgers have a smell too, but it’s milder, often described as a sweet, musky scent.

If you find fur snagged on a fence or thorn bush, look closely. Fox fur is soft, with a rusty-orange colour and a white tip on the tail. Badger fur is coarse and grey, with black and white bands on the face and a lighter underside.

Quick comparison checklist

• Footprints: Badger = five toes, broad, kidney-shaped pad, long claws, 6–7cm. Fox = four toes, triangular pad with notch, claws rarely visible, 4–5cm.
• Trail pattern: Badger = wandering, angled, short stride. Fox = straight line, back foot lands in front print.
• Droppings: Badger = latrines with several droppings in shallow scrapes, rarely on top of objects. Fox = single dropping placed prominently on paths, stones or logs, twisted with tapered ends.
• Smell: Badger = faint, sweet-musky. Fox = strong, musky, lingering.
• Digging: Badger = neat conical snuffle holes, large sett entrances with spoil heaps. Fox = messy cache holes, den entrances under sheds, scattered rubbish.
• Behaviour: Badger = social, nocturnal, habitual paths, heavy and low. Fox = solitary or small groups, bold, agile climber, eerie screams.

What to do if you have badgers or foxes in your garden

First, check the law. In the UK, badgers and their setts are protected under the Protection of Badgers Act 1992. It is a criminal offence to intentionally or recklessly interfere with a sett, disturb a badger or damage a sett entrance. Foxes are not protected in the same way, but they are covered by general animal welfare laws, and cruel methods of control are illegal.

If you want to discourage them, focus on removing what attracts them. Secure bin lids with bungee cords, don’t leave pet food out overnight, clear fallen fruit and bird seed, and use sealed compost bins. Foxes can be deterred with scent repellents (commercial or homemade with chilli, garlic or citronella), motion-activated lights or sprinklers, and by blocking access to sheds and decking with sturdy mesh. Badgers are harder to deter because they are so determined, but you can make your garden less appealing by reducing worm populations (not easy) or by installing a badger-proof fence — a strong wire mesh buried at least 30cm deep and angled outwards. Never block a sett entrance; you need a licence from Natural England, Natural Resources Wales or Scottish Natural Heritage to do any work near a sett.

If you’re unsure which animal you have, or if you have a badger sett and need advice, contact your local wildlife trust or a specialist wildlife consultant. They can help you identify the culprit and suggest humane solutions.

Photo: mjimages / Pixabay