Badgers?
Lost the Plot
Posts: 10
I woke this morning to find a row of holes in my lawn. They are generally about 2 inches in diameter and generally about the same in depth. One is slightly larger than that into the edge of the lawn. They are all down one side. I've attached a couple of photos. I cannot see anything in any of the holes. My immediate neighbour has some bark mulch and that looked as though it had been disturbed and the next neighbour down again had her flower border dug up, again on the same side (south).
We have allotments to the rear and we have been told there are badgers over there (though I've never personally seen any). We often see foxes but have never seen them in the garden either and we have lived in the house for 40 odd years.
Can anyone help either identify the problem or help deter. I've put up some 'noisy' bits and bobs in the garden and some cds to hopefully cause distraction. I am also going to block up the bottom of the garden gate overnight to stop that entry. It is possible to enter elsewhere but difficult to block up.
Last edited: 02 July 2017 20:56:22
Posts
I can't see photos, but you'd know if it was badgers, your garden would look like you've just dug it over ready for spud planting, their holes are about a 30 cms across or even bigger, there's loads of them around here, they pull a tremendous amount of bank soil out into the road with their digging.
Could be squirrels? I have smallish holes all over my garden and I think it's squirrels with bad memories. Badgers make a big mess when they visit me sadly
Hedgehogs looking for grubs/worms?
Sounds exactly like the squirrel holes I found in my garden, the nuts gave it away. All in the same area as you describe.
Do you have a wildlife camera? It doesn't sound like hogs or badgers, not messy enough for the latter.
Last edited: 03 July 2017 11:48:33
Gosh so many replies. Thank you so much. I was puzzled where my photos had gone. The hole in the third photo is slightly larger but it was right at the edge of the lawn and a lot of moss so possibly a red herring there. I have not seen hedgehogs for years (unfortunately) and certainly have not seen any droppings. I haven't seen a squirrel recently but have in the post but very infrequently. We do however have magpies. Two nested in an adjacent tree and there are 2 young which are around a lot during the day. This happened overnight.
I've put lots of old CDs around to clatter and shine, together with plastic cups etc on sticks to make a noise. I put some pepper in each hole yesterday thinking that an animal with a sensitive nose wouldn't like it. No further damage overnight. There are some footprints across the edge of the veg patch but they could be my cat. A complete puzzle especially as my next but one neighbour had all her plants in her border overturned the same night.