Holes all over front garden mulched beds - what has been at work?!

dappledshade

It started back in May, after we’d done up our new front garden and mulched thickly over the beds.
The holes seem to be getting more frequent and deeper.
There are no animal dropping that I can see and every night there are at least a couple of new holes created.

They're about 10-15cm deep and the earth is all shovelled to one side, plants are uprooted and so on.

At first, I thought squirrels could be causing this, but today I saw large-ish footprints near the main hole, as well as flatter and longer tracks.

Are there wild rabbits at work in Muswell Hill?!

thanks for any advice

steephill

Fox probably but it could be badger. Check with neighbours to see if they have seen any.

dappledshade

Thanks.
We’ve definitely got foxes out back, but no holes there, though the mulch in the beds is the same and as accessible. Strange.
Badgers in N10 I’ve never seen nor heard of.
Are foxes just digging for worms, do you think?
I thought the holes were too narrow for fox holes, but what do I know 😁

Dovefromabove

Have you used Fish, Blood & Bone as a fertiliser ... or added bonemeal to the soil when planting?  Foxes will dig holes to seek that out. 

Fairygirl

The young foxes here make quite small holes, so it's possibly a cub.
B,F&Bone is like a drug to them 

Look quite big holes for squirrels, and they don't usually make that amount of mess. 

TenN

If you've mulched with stuff out of your composter it might be young foxes getting a quick and easy snack of brandling worms still in the compost. I've stopped using blood and bone because it makes the dog loopy and she digs everything up.

dappledshade

@Dovefromabove and @Fairygirl that’s really helpful, thanks!

No, I actually made a point of not using the B, F & B after reading an old post by you, Dove, in which you warned somebody else about the same thing 😁 so we mulched with a mulch mix that contains a mixture of composted bark, leafmould, fine manure and fenland soil

Nowt else. We made up the beds from scratch, as there was only crazy leaving at the front, a few months ago. 

I agree that the holes look too large for a squirrel, though some of the other holes were much smaller.

Do foxes dig around for grubs and worms, in the absence of B,F & B?

dappledshade

Thanks @nickten, no we moved here in February and had nothing to start off the garden with, so all fresh soil and mulch from Crews Hill was used.

dappledshade

Does anybody know if there are wild rabbits digging holes in urban gardens, up my way?!

dappledshade

Just remembered that I used some Vitax fertiliser pellets, way back. Do they contain B,F and B?

Fairygirl

They found something very tasty at the edge of my path, bordering the grass,  a year or two ago. Beetles of some kind possibly.
They can only get in my front garden, and had already enjoyed a bit of digging in the border where I'd just planted something -with the obligatory B, F&B