European badgers playing. Group, or clan, of five European badgers (Meles meles) playing. Badgers live in small clans, usually of five to six individuals, in large networks of interconnecting tunnels called sets. Each clan has a dominant male and female. The European badger is found throughout Europe and Asia in woodlands and grazed pasture. They can eat a wide variety of foods, including insects, small mammals, reptiles, fruits, nuts and carrion. However, in Britain their diet mostly consists of earthworms. Badgers reach up to 90 centimetres in length. Photographed in August in Essex, UK.