I slipped into the evening woods and followed a path up through the beeches. No ordinary walkway, this was a pad, as badger paths are called, and it soon led me to the sett. I hadn’t been here for weeks and was eager to know if the badger clan had survived the heatwave. Earthworms are a badger’s main source of food, but during dry times the worms enter a torpid state known as estivation, in which they tunnel deep into the soil and tie themselves into knots. Unable to access their staple diet, badgers can starve.