Garden Pest

Hi
The season for gardening is just starting for me, so I have gone down the garden to make a start and I found a number of long narrow mounds of earth that looks like it has been burrowed by something, there also seems to be lots of stones excavated to the top of the soil, I was hoping to get some grass seeds in this year but not if it is going to be dug up all the time, could this be a mole or shrew or something like that is causing it please.
Hope you are all keeping well.
Trish

 

I've only ever known moles to leave a mound of soil above ground. What else it could be I don't know, sorry.

 

Some times if the ground is badly compacted the moles stay near the surface, so you can see their runs.

 

I think the ground is badly compacted, but I don't want the moles, are there any ways to get rid of the moles digging up my garden.

 

There are ways but the most effective way is trapping them.
I've never tried it myself.

 

Or, you could hire this guy.

 

Too much dynamite!

 

I could not use a trap because something would have to be done with the live animal, I don't want to kill them but they have to go, If I put down poison it might kill birds hedgehogs and cats, I don't know what to do.

 

Agree that poison is not a nice way to kill creatures as it can take a long time.
Afraid your only real option is a low cost mole tunnel trap that seems to be effective and quick acting when we had a similar problem with just one mole wrecking the lawn.

You need to look at all the signs of tunneling the mole has made and work out which is the main run it uses to come into your garden.
Then get a trap and rub it in garden soil so there is no other smell on it and open up the moles main run and you well see a distinct tunnel, just drop the trap in there and using some damp soil seal over the top of the trap.

If you cannot face using that type of trap then use one that just holds it and then take a trip to some country side and release it .

Know its not a nice thing to do, but the alternative is to let your garden be wrecked .

A final option, try and find someone in your area who is a proper mole catcher to do the job for you.
Traditional Mole Control | Mole Catchers | Local Molecatchers

 

The most effective and humane method is a battery-operated gadget that you attach to a very small explosive charge. I used them in UK but may have sourced them in France where they're called Le Detaupeur. They work on the principle of moles hating light, so you clear the molehill to expose the tunnel, feed the wire into it, prime the gadget and when Mr Mole comes along to re-do his black-out, he detonates the charge. It's instant, painless (it's the shock that kills them) and if you leave the body in situ, it repels new tenants from moving in. Apologies to those of a sensitive nature. I don't like killing creatures, either, but if needs must it's an infinitely preferable method to poison, traps and all the other horrors proposed sometimes.

 

I'm sure the bloke with the swan vestas was trying that method as well.

 

Bof! The detaupeur is quite safe when treated with respect I used to place a big bucket over it, though, in gardens where children, cats and dogs could have got curious.

 

An idea I heard was to put a few drops of Olbas oil on a rag and push it in the hole. Moles can't stand the smell. Sorry, I don't know if it works.