It is a sad fact that most people’s first encounter with our largest predators — the fox and the badger — come from whizzing past their bloated corpses while driving along country roads.

Both these animals suffer from horrendous PR, both are considered vermin and both have been relentlessly persecuted for making their homes amidst our agricultural land.

We have tortured and killed both species for generations, fox hunting and badger baiting have long-held traditions in our countryside and despite both practices being banned — old habits die hard.

Despite badgers being the first wild animals to be given legal protection in the early 1970s, baiting and digging still continues illegally.

The badger (Meles meles) also faces the looming threat of a cull in a bid to reduce bovine TB.

But thankfully, the recent surge of public interest in our natural heritage is leading to a change of perception about these animals.

People are still traipsing out to secret locations under the cover of darkness to pursue their quarry, but for many, their only aim is to sneak a glimpse of these creatures going about their business undisturbed.

A number of viewing sites, usually consisting of a wooden hide nestling in the middle of a damp field, have been established to cater for badger enthusiasts. They are mostly centred in the South West — the stronghold of the UK’s estimated 300,000-strong badger population.

And it only takes a few minutes of watching these grunting, worm-obsessed, faintly comical-looking relatives of the weasel, to become well and truly captivated.

Early to mid-summer evenings offer the best chance of spying on these normally secretive, nocturnal animals. Hides or watching points are placed near well-used setts, some of which have been home to the same badger clans for hundreds of years.

The animals can be very boisterous and the different characters of each family member can be recognised with astonishing speed.

This time of year also holds the promise of seeing badger cubs taking their first tentative steps outside the family home. Mark Needham has been running one such site — Badger Watch Dorset — from his farm near Dorchester, for the last 17 years.

Explaining the animal’s appeal, he said: “A few years ago people liked spending their spare time doing things like DIY but with the increase in popularity of programmes such as Springwatch there has been a real growth in interest in our own British wildlife and badgers have benefited from this too.

“People like badger watching, it lets them get away from the real world for a time, the animals are charismatic and mysterious, watching them offers something unusual as they are not normally that easy to see.”

The majority of people cramming into Needham’s two hides come away happy, as the farm boasts an almost faultless success rate of seeing the badgers, foxes, deer and owls that live at the site. But isn’t it odd for a farmer, typically the badger’s worst enemy, to be welcoming people to come and look at these beasts?

Needham laughs off the suggestion: “At the end of the day most farmers are interested in wildlife, and touch-wood, we have always been clear of bovine TB here.”

If badgers are predominantly creatures of the countryside, the fox is an altogether more streetwise, urban operator. The fox (Vulpes vulpes) is the most widespread and abundant wild carnivore in the world. Its adaptability is legendary, allowing the animal to thrive in seemingly lifeless inner-city environments as well as the harsh tundra of the sub-Arctic.

An extreme example of this came in the form of Romeo. The fox cub astonishingly made his home at the top of Europe’s tallest building — the 310-metre Shard in central London.

Surviving on workers’ scraps as they built the tower, Romeo’s exploits generated front page headlines in The Sun newspaper with the headline “How The Fox He Got Up There?”.

The boldness of our urban foxes makes them relatively easy to see. Most late-night or early morning commuters will have enjoyed fleeting glimpses of the animal’s long russet tails as it scampers away from the messy remnants of a pilfered bin bag.

But to get a more fulfilling view it is well worth staking out patches of waste ground, or urban cemeteries, at this time of year as these relatively quiet and concealed locations often double up as den sites.

Views of energetic fox cubs engaging in dramatic bouts of wrestling bring a real sense of wilderness to our least wild landscapes.

Where to watch

  • Badger Trust at www.badgertrust.org.uk boasts a mine of information about badgers, their protection and how to join local badger groups.
  • To book your place watching badgers at Mark Needham’s Dorset farm visit www.badgerwatchdorset.co.uk
  • For information about rural and urban foxes visit The Mammal Society at www.mammal.org.uk