Who's Been Digging Holes?

februarysgirl

I noticed yesterday that some strange, relatively small, round holes had been dug in my raised beds. I've just been outside and discovered this 
Unfortunately, I didn't have my wildlife camera positioned anywhere that could have caught the culprit in the act. This morning we spotted a blackbird digging around in one of the other holes but I don't know whether a blackbird is capable of digging a hole that big or whether it's taking advantage of someone else's.

Answers will be gratefully received, I'm not chuffed! 

Sendmesun

Perhaps foxes? My garden has lots of diggers- the squirrels don't seem to be digging at the moment. The cats love the mulched areas but this little guy and Co (profile pic) are leaving toy balls and holes in random places at the moment! He is a beauty though. 

The blackbirds don't really seem to dig just peck around. Do cats or foxes seem most likely in your area? 

Biglad

I had similar holes recently and a couple of rat sightings I'd say that would be a candidate.

februarysgirl

Sendmesun said:

Perhaps foxes? My garden has lots of diggers- the squirrels don't seem to be digging at the moment. The cats love the mulched areas but this little guy and Co (profile pic) are leaving toy balls and holes in random places at the moment! He is a beauty though. 

The blackbirds don't really seem to dig just peck around. Do cats or foxes seem most likely in your area? 

I did catch a fox on camera last year but I haven't seen any so far this year. I did put some chicken manure down about a month ago but this has has only just started and the holes are darted around, not necessarily where I put the manure. The cats have been using it as a litter tray but haven't seen them do anything other than scrape over what they've left behind. Last year I had larger bark on which the cats weren't fond of but this year was a very different batch and much softer. I'm going to be getting rid of it and trying to locate something similar to last year!

Biglad said:

I had similar holes recently and a couple of rat sightings I'd say that would be a candidate.

Haven't caught any rats on camera before, only mice. Fingers crossed it isn't any of them!

Wildlifelover

I’ve had similar and Blackbirds are the culprits. Females can dig quite deep, looking for damp mud to line the nest. I placed some mud in an upturned bin lid next to where she was digging and they use that instead. 

februarysgirl

@Wildlifelover That's interesting. I've got a spare bag of topsoil at the moment I could use for that.

Wildlifelover

Obviously you have to soak the soil a bit but not too much, otherwise the bird can’t gather the mud if it’s too watery. When you see them gathering it, they are quite vicious!

pansyface

I have a male blackbird who attacks the very same spot every morning. He can make an awful mess and quite a deep hole. Heaven knows what he thinks is down there. I kick it all back and he’s at it again the next morning. 🙄

John Harding

My guess is squirrels digging to retrieve nuts they planted in the autumn. We are plagued with them at present and not only that we are getting a lot of hazel and oak seedings sprouting up in the raised veggie beds. Squirrels can dig quite big and deep holes but if they find what they are looking for quickly they won't make that much of a mess!

FlyDragon

Could definitely be the blackbird.  A few weekends ago I'd put all new bark chips in my big pots and on some borders then sat and watched from the patio as the resident lady blackbird redistributed the bark all over the garden.  She's dug so deep by my roses sometimes the roots have been exposed!

Sendmesun

Wow, interesting I never knew blackbirds were such good diggers too. It will be interesting to see what you find on camera February's girl.