Help? Urgent!

Perhaps I could get DH to pretend he is a dog? I do spend a lot of time gardening so imagine my smell must be pretty much everywhere although of course I wear gloves so perhaps not.

I did notice a small hole a couple of years ago but nothing like this one. I think it is obvious now since I removed a tree.

Not sure how long, Movedalot. Give it a week, say, and meanwhile keep getting your own smell around by touching things and walking nearby. He/she may be put off by knowing you have been there and be put off using the hole. If there are no footprints at all, maybe the hole is an old disused one. Have you never noticed it before?

I've put the flour down again today. If it is not disturbed how long should I leave it before assuming it is not a sett and filling it in?

More digging last night so today I'm putting some gel down which is supposed to keep animals away.

Moist sand also makes a good 'trap' to see who is about. Badger prints are very recognisable....the are almost square with five short 'fingers'. If you goggle them I am sure pictures will pop up.

Only just noticed this thread. We had a similar problem with our lawn, dug up and scratched about over two large areas, and a hole about 18" wide near the hedge.

This was in the spring though, when grubs and larvae are under the grass so we assumed it was a badger as that's what they go for, apparently. We haven't had any trouble since though...

Update! I laid a trail of peanuts from the hole, across the lower lawn, along a path, up the steps and across the upper lawn to a foil tray with lots of nuts in. I also liberally spread flour around the hole. This morning the trail of nuts is all gone but the tray is untouched. Not sure about the flour, I think it may just have been blown away but it is possible that it has been disturbed on the one side. Will add some more later.

Interestingly whatever it is had another go at the lawn last night but not the night before. Could the difference be that I watered the lawn yesterday and by doing so encouraged some sort of bug?

When I was a child we found mouse traces in the kitchen, but no sign of where they were getting in. My mother sprinkled flour over the kitchen floor one evening. Next morning there was a neat line of little prints from the coal-hole cupboard to the larder and back again.

No bumble bees there or even in the bee house we put up to attract them!

Great idea about the flour I've put it out ready.

Not sure I'm good at all this wild life stuff but at least the butterflies like my buddleia. Must try harder With all this help I should at least improve.

Were there any bumble bees around the big hole? If so it was a nest, which can be quite extensive underground but not evident from the surface - until excavated by a badger!

Sprinkle a light covering of flour and look next day for footmarks in that?

Thanks Elegran sounds like you know your stuff. I would say the hole is about 10" diameter but can only see a short way down before it goes to the side so don't know if it stays the same size. No fur, bones or claw marks and the ground just there is very dry so I doubt paw marks would show but I will look after we have rain.

Just talking to our neighbour who said it is squirrels so I suggested he came and looked at the amount of damage done in one night. Then I showed him the hole! Yes, badgers he said and told me that his next door neighbour feeds them! So it would seem pretty conclusive and I will now experiment with ways of deterring them from damaging the lawn. Neighbour said no one would know if I blocked the hole. I said that I would!

Got DH looking to see if the video does infra red so we can set it up and get a picture. Peanuts on the shopping list.

If it is badgers they like to have a place where they can have a little snooze without going all the way home. It could be that, or a young badger who has just left home (it is about time for them to go independent) and has not got round to any housework yet (teenagers!)

Exactly how big a hole is it? 3 inches? 6 inches? a foot? eighteen inches? Does it start large and get smaller a little way in or stay the same width as far as you can see? Any fur caught on branches nearby? Is it reddish (fox) or coarse grey/black/white shaving-brush coloured? Any trees with clawmarks on the bark a foot or two up? Any bones lying around nearby? any footprints in soft earth? (badgers have two feet with five toes each, two with four. Foxes have four on each foot, like a dog.)

You need to play detectives.

What do you think the big hole would be if they are not making a sett? Would it lead to their sett? I read that they like to live where the land is undisturbed which does not apply to our garden but our neighbour has frequently said that he hates gardening with a vengeance.

DH forgot to get the peanuts so I improvised with peanut butter on Weetabix, they didn't eat it! We spent all evening peering out of various windows hoping to see movement but it was so dark I don't think we would have seen them anyway.

If you have any pots containing bulbs, a sprinkling of hot curry powder will stop badgers digging and eating them, but of course it needs replacing from time to time. It worked for me. I doubt whether they were making a sett, it would be food they were after, so there would be no bedding or latrine.

We live quite close to Gloucestershire!

No bedding so they can't be very houseproud! No smell so not foxes!

DH has gone to B & Q to buy loads of cheap washing up liquid, which apparently kills the leatherjackets they like to eat; cat repellent which might annoy them; Jeyes Fluid which I am told to soak rags in and attach to sticks which I then stick in the ground and they won't like the smell and lots of peanuts which I will put in a bowl and put out at dusk and then watch and see what comes!

I got all this from a man on the local council's website. Apparently they no longer have an expert but advertise the guy who used to work for them. I tried the badger people but they gave me a load of mobile phone numbers for the local person and none of them work. I left a vm on the landline number in the hope that it is correct.

I've taken out my frustration with a chain saw hedge trimmer massacre and now have about 3 car loads to take to the tip!

Shh! Don't tell the marksmen who are busy culling badgers in Somerset

Any bedding (leaves,straw, etc) near the hole? Does it look as though they are houseproud and sweep it out frequently and change the bedding? If so badgers.

Does it smell strongly like rotting garlic? Foxes.

Moved it could be a 'Beast of Bodmin'-type thing!

The Malvern Monster

Just found a big hole behind a tree in the garden!

I have one of these. Trail camera . It is amazing what activity there is at night! It can take stills or video clips in daylight or darkness, and is heat or motion sensitive. I bought it to keep tabs on a now-deceased cat who went feral for a while.

Does your local authority have a wildlife officer? It might be worthwhile giving them a call to see if they can identify the culprit. I suppose it would be a step too far to install a CCTV system?

I would suggest badgers, they will dig up lawns looking for insects, especially if there happens to be a bumble bee nest underground. My way of deterring them is to leave out a dish of peanuts. If you put them within range of the security light it is fun to watch, and they don't seem to notice the light. I have posted a picture today on the new nature thread.

A large area of damage could be badgers - but they are creatures of habit and very territorial. If you come across a noticeable latrine ( a small hole filled with poo) then its badgers.

Thanks Merlot the badger and rabbit ones look most likely. Definitely not the insect ones. Not aware of any rabbits even on the common half a mile away.

Badgers might also explain why it is mostly the lawn furthest away from the house as their movement probably at that distance would not trigger the security light.