Moles

(Talpa europaea) Moles are cute, furry mammals – until they set up home in your garden! Here they can seriously ruin your lawn, thanks to their tunnelling activities and molehills.

1. Large piles of soil – molehills – appear throughout the garden, but especially on lawns
2. You may see evidence of the underground tunnels (runs) at ground level
3. You are unlikely to see the moles themselves
4. Mole runs may disturb plants or damage their roots, so they may start to wilt

Moles are often seen as being cute animals – until they invade the garden! They are mammals, measuring about 15cm (6in) long, covered with blackish-brown fur and having broad, paddle-shaped front paws, which are used for digging and tunnelling.

You rarely see the moles themselves as they spend most of their life underground. They dig out a system of tunnels and chambers – called a run – disposing of the excavated soil into molehills on the ground.

Moles are carnivorous, mainly eating worms and other invertebrates that fall into their runs.

Moles are usually most active from mid- to late winter to spring, with the main breeding season from late winter to mid-summer. Female moles can produce three or four young a year. Outside of breeding and rearing, moles are mainly solitary, so any mole activity in small gardens is usually due to a single mole.

• Lawns
• Flower beds
• Vegetables gardens

Moles cause damage in the garden because of their tunnelling activities.

The first signs of mole activity are the heaps of excavated soil – molehills – on lawns and in flower beds and veg gardens. These only cause real problems on the lawn, where they have to be removed before mowing, and any collapsed tunnels need filling in.

Moles don’t eat plants, but their tunnelling through the soil disturbs the roots of plants growing wherever they tunnel. This may cause enough damage to kill small or young plants.

While moles can be tolerated elsewhere in the garden, they are a real nuisance when they tunnel under the lawn. The resulting molehills can ruin the lawn’s appearance, making mowing impossible, and their tunnelling activity increases lawn maintenance, as collapsed tunnels need filling in.

Trapping is probably the most effective and reliable way of controlling moles. Both traditional traps that kill the moles humanely if used correctly and live-capture traps are available. But to work, you have to make sure you set them correctly.

Before setting, clean thoroughly with water, or rub soil over them, and always handle traps with gloves – as moles are very sensitive to smells, human scent can prevent them going near the traps.

They need careful placement. Don’t put the trap in the molehill, but instead, find the run between two molehills with a metal pole or similar and put the trap there. Open the run with minimal disturbance, perhaps with a trowel, ensuring the trap is set squarely within the run and fits tightly. Then cover around the trap with turf, making sure that no light or draughts whatsoever will get into the run. Covering with an upturned bucket will also help. Check the trap at least once a day, twice a day for live-capture traps.

If using a live-capture trap, the mole should be released at least one mile away, in a suitable area that can support it, having first gained permission from the landowner. These requirements usually make the use of such traps impractical.

Moles don’t like loud or strong vibrations or noise, so inserting the stem of children’s spinning windmills (often sold at coastal resorts) or even the mechanism from a singing birthday card into the run may work. Solar-powered or battery-operated mole scarers, which produce a buzzing noise, are another option.

Mole-scaring tactics may scare the moles to go elsewhere. Unfortunately, this is often to another part of the garden.

Another possibility is to try and flood the runs with water – but you need to do more than just pour water down the run.

If all else fails, you may want to call in the local “mole man”, if you live in an area where one exists, or even a professional pest control company.

As moles don’t like strange smells, mole-repellent smokes and deterrents with strong scents are available, which put off the mole from using that run.

One method that many people swear by is to pour human male (female won’t work) urine into the run and onto the molehills.

It is not possible to stop moles coming into the garden. Once moles have been removed, the vacant runs may be taken over by another mole.

Mole netting is available that prevent moles coming to the lawn surface, so preventing molehills. Obviously, this has to be laid before the lawn is created.

• Mole repellent
• Electronic deterrent