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TUNNELS UNDER THE LAWN

SK831SK831 Posts: 31
in Problem solving
Hi Please can anyone help identify what is making tunnels under the surface of my lovely lawn. We do not have any mole hills!! We had moles a couple of summers ago in the same vicinity and we bought a mole vibrating pole which worked then so we have placed that in the ground but it is not working this time. It/they are raising all the grass surface up and covering an area 1.5M squared. This has now been going on 2-3 weeks.
Look forward to hearing from anyone with any ideas of what it might be any solutions.
Thanks Sid
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Posts

  • Blue OnionBlue Onion Posts: 2,987
    Sid, would you please post some images of the tunnels?  
    Utah, USA.
  • SK831SK831 Posts: 31
    Hi thanks for the quick reply-don't have a camera to hand. But they are approx 4"-6" wide and run along the area and sometimes it does a turn and makes a curve. It lifts all the ground in clumps along the 'tunnel'. My husband has been stamping them back down for now. Does that help. It basically looks a mess lol Thanks

  • SK831SK831 Posts: 31
    It is like it is running just under the surface of the lawn

  • Blue OnionBlue Onion Posts: 2,987
    Six inches wide is huge.. must be a fair sized critter.  Are there exit holes?  What size are they?
    Utah, USA.
  • DovefromaboveDovefromabove Posts: 86,989
    It sounds like voles ... except your tunnels sound much too wide 

    Gardening in Central Norfolk on improved gritty moraine over chalk ... free-draining.





  • SK831SK831 Posts: 31
    Just been to look 6" was overstated the soil area showing through the damaged grass is more like 3"-sorry- so you think its voles. If so do we have a solution. The vibrating pole doesn't seem to bother them lolol Thanks 


  • DovefromaboveDovefromabove Posts: 86,989
    This is what the RHS has to say https://www.rhs.org.uk/advice/profile?PID=792

    A few field voles aren't normally a problem but in favourable conditions their numbers can increase exponentially for a short while ... while this can be a PITA for the gardener is is wonderful news for owls and kestrels and the like.  Every cloud has a silver lining.   :)

    Gardening in Central Norfolk on improved gritty moraine over chalk ... free-draining.





  • ObelixxObelixx Posts: 29,854
    Moles do that too - tunnels near the surface without all the hills.   We had loads in our last garden.   What's worse, after rain the tunnels collapse and you're left with unsightly furrows which can be hard on ankles and knees.

    In this garden they have to go deeper to find juicy worms so we get molehills with mountainous ambitions but no tunnels - so far.
    Vendée - 20kms from Atlantic coast.
    "We don't stop playing because we grow old; we grow old because we stop playing." - George Bernard Shaw
  • SK831SK831 Posts: 31
    Any solutions or do we just have to bide our time
  • ButtercupdaysButtercupdays Posts: 4,502
    I could lend you my cat - she's caught 3 moles in the last fortnight :)
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