I used to often find badger burrows on my dacha near Klin, but over the last two or three years I haven't seen any animals or fresh burrows at all. Are they moving somewhere else, or is their population actually declining?
Has the forest on your dacha land changed a lot over these years - clearcuts, new paths, construction nearby? Badgers are pretty sensitive to changes in their habitat, and even moderate disturbance can make them move to new territories. Plus, they dig burrows over many years, and if a sett is abandoned, it might just mean the family relocated, not that they died. The badger population in the Moscow region forests overall is holding steady, but local populations can definitely fluctuate depending on food availability, the presence of good burrowing sites, and the level of disturbance.
Badgers are sensitive to disturbance and changes in their habitat - if there's been more human activity near your dacha, construction, or even just noise, they can relocate to quieter places. On top of that, a couple of years ago the forests around Moscow had a lot of problems with ticks and parasites, which could have affected their numbers. But actually, badgers aren't so much disappearing from the region as they are territorial animals and can migrate between forest patches - it's possible your neighbors unintentionally scared off a family, or the animals simply moved further away from the growing disturbance in the Moscow region forests. If there are no burrows at all, it makes sense to talk to the forestry service - they can tell you whether the animal population has changed in this particular area.
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