Wholly moley

And you can blame it on the weather. Last year’s heavy rain means just one thing – a mole invasion.

Those months of rain brought about a significant increase in the UK’s mole population, with millions more moles being born than in previous years.

As early as June 2012, a Make Your Nature Count survey by the RSPB found that 12 per cent of all gardens in Basingstoke, Hampshire, showed signs  of moles, such as tunnels or hills  (the RSPB also recorded a rise in the number of earthworms, the staple diet of moles).

Now, after the deluge, we are witnessing the effects of all that rain – huge numbers of mole hills on grass verges at the sides of roads, and, more worryingly, an explosion of hills on lawns.

Why does wet weather mean more moles?

Prolonged rain raises the water table and forces earthworms to come closer to the surface. It also makes the ground softer and easier to dig through, allowing moles to hunt and to find a mate more easily.

Frustratingly for gardeners, saturated soil also means moles venture further from their usual habitat in the woods and hedgerows – hence the increase of mole hills on lawns.

George Savell, director of mole-trap experts Beagle Garden Products, thinks that the wet weather of 2012 was not just wet, it was extreme. “It is not just that it rained a lot last year, it rained extremely heavily over very short periods of time,” he says.

And heavy rainfall looks likely to become a more common occurrence. Statistics show that days of particularly heavy rainfall have become more common since 1960.

Which means, says George Savell,  more problems with moles: “We are  going to see an increasing number of domestic gardeners becoming obsessed with mole catching, and adding mole traps and mole-trapping equipment to the ‘essential tools’ of their garden sheds.”

The next few months will be a telling time. A dry summer will fend off the threat of moles for many of us, but a wet one could signal an onslaught.

One thing seems fairly certain, though. The battle against moles is destined to be a recurring event, and a lengthy campaign.