Have you tried putting large plastic botles upside down on 3ft canes pushed into the soil a few yards apart? Moles do not like vibration or noise. I have done this in my garden for several years being in "mole country" and have had no problems with mole hills despite the cat bringing home a few 'little men in velvet jackets'. I have used large green water bottles which are not too intrusive amongst the plants.
Thanks for all your suggestions, i really don't want to exterminate the rascals after all just like ourselves they're only looking for food but i would like to keep my lawn, it's getting to the stage where I'm thinking of digging it up because of the unsightly earth mounds. Perhaps I'll hold off for next year and try the vibrating canes, now all i have to do is collect plastic bottles, but i have all winter for that.
If it's any consolation, we had a mole problem which resulted in my husband removing 50 mole heaps in one go. Surprisingly, the following year there weren't any! We had tried all kinds of ways to get rid of them but they just packed their bags and left of there own accord. Good luck, hope yours move house too.
Moles eat worms so any well tended garden with a plentiful supply will be heaven to the local mole community. We have an ongoing problem with them at our local croquet club. They bring the mole catcher in a couple of times a year. He charges £25.00 for each mole he catches, no mole no fee! But he does kill them. I have no control over what my cat catches, unbeknown to me she caught one and released it in the sitting room. When I saw a pile of casssettes moving in a corner I thought it was a rat. It was transplanted to a nearby field. On another occasion I saw my cat transfixed, staring at a slate chipping topped path. Then I saw the path rising and falling and realised it was a mole burrowing along below the surface. It is a long time sinced the earth moved for me!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!
@Pansyface got rid of her unwelcome visitors by placing 2 large pickled onions down each tunnel she came across. Not fancy little shallots pickled in balsamic vinegar - the cheap really big, smelly, malt vinegar ones they have in fish and chip shops.
Moles have a very strong sense of smell so they may be deterred by strong smells and tunnel-off in the opposite direction.
A cheap and humane method to try at least.
PS - Punk Doc is right. It is usually a single mole - apparently they are quite solitary creatures just coming together for 'Looking for Lundy' (family euphemism...)
Heaven is ... sitting in the garden with a G&T and a cat while watching the sun go down
You need a professional mole catcher and despatcher. They don't just dig up lawns tho taht's when they're most visible.
They are solitary but come together to breed - tunnels to find each other - and then the male goes his own way - more tunnels - and then the litter is born, each baby then grows and sets off to find a new territory for itself - lots more tunnels - and eventually is old enough to breed and the whole process starts again.
We have tried wind, smells, vibrations, smoke bombs, th enoisy thing out of some greetings cards and the only thing which works is either the mole being caught by a cat or dog or a device which is legal here but not in the UK and consists of a minor bomb which is activated on contact when moley is tunnelling. We haven't used it since we got our older dog 12 years ago. Google "détaupeur" if you want to know more.
Vendée - 20kms from Atlantic coast. "We don't stop playing because we grow old; we grow old because we stop playing." - George Bernard Shaw
When we had our mole problem I Googled ways to get rid of them . A whole afternoon was spent investigating a myriad of solutions. We stopped when the next article was the liquidation of moles in Soviet Central Russia!
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S.Yorkshire/Derbyshire border
Perhaps I'll hold off for next year and try the vibrating canes, now all i have to do is collect plastic bottles, but i have all winter for that.
We have an ongoing problem with them at our local croquet club. They bring the mole catcher in a couple of times a year. He charges £25.00 for each mole he catches, no mole no fee! But he does kill them.
I have no control over what my cat catches, unbeknown to me she caught one and released it in the sitting room. When I saw a pile of casssettes moving in a corner I thought it was a rat. It was transplanted to a nearby field. On another occasion I saw my cat transfixed, staring at a slate chipping topped path. Then I saw the path rising and falling and realised it was a mole burrowing along below the surface.
It is a long time sinced the earth moved for me!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!
Moles have a very strong sense of smell so they may be deterred by strong smells and tunnel-off in the opposite direction.
A cheap and humane method to try at least.
PS - Punk Doc is right. It is usually a single mole - apparently they are quite solitary creatures just coming together for 'Looking for Lundy' (family euphemism...)
They are solitary but come together to breed - tunnels to find each other - and then the male goes his own way - more tunnels - and then the litter is born, each baby then grows and sets off to find a new territory for itself - lots more tunnels - and eventually is old enough to breed and the whole process starts again.
We have tried wind, smells, vibrations, smoke bombs, th enoisy thing out of some greetings cards and the only thing which works is either the mole being caught by a cat or dog or a device which is legal here but not in the UK and consists of a minor bomb which is activated on contact when moley is tunnelling. We haven't used it since we got our older dog 12 years ago. Google "détaupeur" if you want to know more.
"We don't stop playing because we grow old; we grow old because we stop playing." - George Bernard Shaw