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Three questions if that's ok?

turmericturmeric Posts: 830
in Problem solving
First of all does anyone know what this is?
My next question is can anyone identify this shrub. It's about 10 foot tall and has long spines/thorns along the stems.  It's evergreen.
And finally what on earth has happened here... last week the grass looked as if something had been burrowing underneath it(!).  It was all uneven and spongey.  Then today it seems to have settled flat but a trail of dead yellow grass has been left.  I dug around looking for chafer grubs but couldn't find any, but the soil just under the trail is all loose as if something has rummaged through it.  No grass was disturbed on the surface like magpies or badgers do when looking for chafer grubs.  The excess soil is simply where I've been digging today.  I can't think of anything that can burrow through soil just below grass except for moles but there are no mole hills.  Any ideas?  There is a local hedgehog but he wouldn't be under the grass!

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Posts

  • TackTack Posts: 1,367
    I can only help withe the first one. Aubergine plant.
  • turmericturmeric Posts: 830
    Aubergine?! Oh my goodness.  I've never seen it before. Thanks Tack.
  • Hostafan1Hostafan1 Posts: 34,889
    aubergine
    Berberis, maybe B. julianne
    Badgers?
    Devon.
  • B3B3 Posts: 27,505
    I've never seen an aubergine plant but the flowers in the first one look like solanum to me
    The second one is a berberis
    I havent a clue about the excavation😊
    In London. Keen but lazy.
  • Ladybird4Ladybird4 Posts: 37,906
    Your second plant is a Berberis. Can you see any clear tunnel under the turf such as what may be made by a vole for example?
    Cacoethes: An irresistible urge to do something inadvisable
  • turmericturmeric Posts: 830
    Two votes for aubergine. Thanks Hostafan1.  Berberis. Thank you.  I can look it up online now and find out more.  Not badgers though.  No sightings of badgers in the garden and the digging is from me this morning.  When I first got there the ground was flat with no sign of digging, just a continuous trail of yellow grass about 2m long that wiggled from the edge of the border around a small part of the lawn.  I did the digging to look for grubs but didn't find any.  I've seen badger damage (it looks very much how I made it look by digging :D) but I did replace the soil and the turf after taking the photo.
  • LynLyn Posts: 23,190
    That’s a mole been at the grass. 
    Gardening on the wild, windy west side of Dartmoor. 

  • turmericturmeric Posts: 830
    Ladybird4 do voles each chafer grubs?  I thought it looked like something had been burrowing around under the soil but no evidence of coming up again.  When I lifted the yellow turf the soil for the first 2-3 inches was all loose but around and below it was the usual compacted clay which made me think something had loosened it.
  • LynLyn Posts: 23,190
    Voles make very small holes, yours looks about 2 to 3 “ .
    Gardening on the wild, windy west side of Dartmoor. 

  • turmericturmeric Posts: 830
    Lyn, I've just looked up voles on the RHS site and I think you're right.  But do you know why they would be tunnelling in one part of the lawn and why now?  It's just lawn, no bulbs at all and my friend has lived in the house for about 20 years and this is the first time it's happened.  There is a large apple tree from which apples have fallen nearby but, as I say, this has been happening for many years with no previous evidence of voles.
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