INTERNATIONAL runner Kate Goodhead is on a race of another sort – to save Gloucestershire’s badger population.

Ahead of the planned cull this summer, badger campaigner Kate is painting wonderful images of the creatures on posts along the roadside near her home in Slad.

A nurse, a soldier and a bride and groom are just some of the creative characters painted by Kate in The Vatch in an attempt to get motorists and walkers thinking about badgers.

"Badgers are getting vaccinated in our valley and I wanted to celebrate that," said Kate, 28, an art technician at Rednock School in Dursley who regularly competes for Great Britain in a range of races.

"It is terrible what is going on elsewhere so I wanted to do something to try and help them.

"I was painting one evening and a badger came down the road. He ran away when he saw me but it was quite a special moment.

"It is easy to think someone else will do something, but I wanted to do something in a peaceful way to get people thinking about badgers."

Kate started painting after attending a national protest in London against the cull in June.

So far she has painted around half of the 55 posts and now she is asking friends and neighbours in Slad for their ideas.

"When I am out there painting so many people stop and want to talk about it and ask questions, which is amazing. That is what I wanted from this," said Kate, who has written and illustrated a children’s book called The Badger Family Move to the Moon.

"I like art to be inclusive so I have been asking people what they would like to see because I want this project to be part of the community."