CAMPAIGNERS protesting against badger culling in Oxfordshire took their battle to BBC Countryfile Live on Saturday.

Representatives of Oxfordshire Badger Group (OBG) joined forces with groups from other counties to make a stand outside the main gates of Blenheim Palace before the event's third day.

Almost 20 protesters, including one dressed in a badger costume, wore masks and carried placards opposing the cull.

In the last five years, 30,000 badgers have been culled across the country despite warnings from scientists that it may be an ineffective way of controlling bovine tuberculosis.

Campaigners believe extending the cull to Oxfordshire, deemed 'low risk' for the disease, could make the situation worse.

But last month, a motion to stop badger culling in West Oxfordshire was defeated by the district council.

The group received plenty of support from visitors to the event and OBG chairman Julia Clark believed this vindicated their decision to protest.

She said: "People need to know what's happening in the countryside now.

"In the next few weeks the death warrant is going to be sealed for thousands of healthy badgers in these low risk areas including Oxfordshire.

"We love our countryside and this is an audience we need to reach."

Secretary Linda Ward added: "Countryfile Live is a great institution.

"The rural communities are being divided by the cull and we want to make sure the message that culling is happening and the arguments why it shouldn't happen have come to this audience."