Badgers in Essex at "higher levels now than they have been for 100 years"
Badgers have been protected since 1992
Badgers can be found "almost anywhere in the county" because of "higher levels now than they have been for 100 years."
Since 1992 the nocturnal animal has been protected, and there has been a "dramatic increase" in their numbers.
Darren Tansley, from Essex Wildlife Trust, said that badgers are now "widespread" throughout the county, although they usually are only spotted at night.
"We don't see them maybe as often as we might think for a widespread species. That is because they are generally nocturnal, so we just don't get to see them, generally speaking, during the day."
He said that the badger population is "spread across the county" with the "exception of the South-West in the very urban areas."
"They are probably at higher levels now than they have been for 100 years."
He said that some of the animals are at risk because of "busy roads" in Essex.
"There are general routes that badgers take to go across their territories, and sometimes these coincide with roads.
"We have got a lot of busy roads in Essex, but also some roads get built over those routes and the badgers continue to use them.
"They don't really understand the dangers of being on a road, that is when we see a lot of them get knocked down."
Darren also said that Essex Wildlife works with three local badger groups in the county, who attend to injured badgers and know where the habitats are.
Badgers can also live in urban areas, with Darren giving examples of Southend and Hadleigh for "quite large groups" of the animals.
"The issues are really conflict with people.
"What you tend to find is that a housing development goes in over the top of an existing badger sett, and then they have to try and find their way around in their old habitat, but it has all changed.
"That is when things start to get a bit tricky for them.
"It is difficult with an animal that burrows very prolifically."
Darren also gave a tip on how to spot if a badger has been nearby:
"Imagine you come across some fur caught on a barbed wire fence.
"You can tell whether it's a badger because if you take the hair and roll it between your thumb and forefinger, it clicks as it rolls across because it is actually square.
"That is the square hair of a badger."