Homeowners in a seaside town say their gardens are being invaded by badgers as new housing development forces them out of their natural habitat.

Frustrated residents of Leigh on Sea, Essex, have reported worm-hungry badgers smashing through fences and digging up patios.

Rachel Morgan, 34, has had to spend £1,000 replacing her fences earlier this year after she was woken up in the middle of the night to the sound of “someone splitting wood with an axe.”

She said: “We ended up spending a fortune getting fences done and then they tunneled underneath them and came up through the patio.

“There were bricks thrown up on the patio. It’s ridiculous, they’re really strong.”

Debbie King, who first complained of badgers infiltrating North Street in 2016, said she has since moved “partly because it was that bad”.

“I think I counted up to nine in the sett,” she said. “You’d hear the fence break and you’d be lying there thinking whose fence now?”

Nicola Lacey, 42, of Lord Roberts Avenue, has had multiple holes made in her fence and even saw two badgers “trotting along our lawn” one morning.