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Having recently purchased a new house on a new build estate, there's a small strip of earth, mulch and plants (without fencing) between the pavement and my property. It's the length of the front of the house and about a metre wide at its deepest. For the last week/10 days I've come out in the morning to find half a dozen or so 'excavations' that have been pawed from this area, several small craters so to speak, about 4/5 inches deep scattering earth and mulch into the pavement messing up the front of the house...
I'm assuming that this is a wild animal, and foxes have been heard in the area i'm told- but is that fox like behaviour? The small area has been planted sparsely by the developer although we're happy with it and has been down only for around 6 months. Could this be a winter habit from local wildlife and any tips for deterrents? I don't think its cat behaviour having lived with cats for many years, or a careless local dog owner. Should i stay up all night with a high powered rifle and a torch?
Birds. Blackbirds or sparrows are two options
Someone burying their nuts?
Have you got a hedge?
Sounds like a badger.
no hedge yet- its a new build so although planted, its all new growth so plants that were put in are small and the largest plants are slender and deciduous (red stems and variegated foliage, name escapes me). My intention is to get something in there to formally border the patch as i'm fairly happy to get gardening.
Maybe you are harvesting an as yet to be discovered Border Terrier. Mine is devastating my garden.
My thought too.Sounds like a badger.
Is there any poo in the bottom of the excavations? Badgers usually do that, a bit like cats but without covering it up.
Get some Pyrocanthus in there sharpish!
i should say also i am a lover of all animals.. but not when they do things like this! i don't want to impact on neighbouring pets too but its puzzling me as it seems to have happened out of the blue, and is now a nightly occurrence. it wouldn't bother me but i put a bird feeder out the back and not a sniff. now i've got f*cking Wildebeest at the front running amok..
Surely a great excuse to buy a night vision security camera!
"Get some Pyrocanthus in there sharpish!"
cheers! suggestions for aggressive bush welcome. In every sense...
Squirrels like to dig up bulbs and such. Foxes dig too.
You could go all Ray Mears and lay some soil/sand out on the area and see what prints you can find in the morning 🙂
Yorkshire89 that's a great suggestion! as is the NV cam...
If you find out it's half human half horse fey creatures then this company is the one to call;
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Sounds like a badger.
It certainly does, not much point having a lawn where I live as they love nothing more than digging holes in it and everywhere else for that matter.
[url= http://www.laptopsdirect.co.uk/electriq-pro-outback-12-megapixel-photo-wildlife-pet-cctv-security-camera-r-wild1/version.asp?refsource=Ldadwords&gclid=CJq8p4HCztECFTQz0wodQTsGYA ]No idea of how good they are...[/url]
I hope to catch the damn thing in the act, so I can at least know and possibly think of a deterrent- getting a thorny hedge in there would be a good excuse to buy plants i'm thinking. I'd be quite 'happy' if it was a badger, as i don't think i've ever seen a live one in the wild.. but i know they can be very destructive. The developer who we've got a good informal relationship with btw, has not had any reports of damage to any neighbouring gardens and i haven't yet asked neighbours who are all a friendly bunch I'm pleased to say.
Apparently one neighbour had a problem with a horny and overly territorial Robin aggressively damaging their car resulting in them covering their car mirrors and windows with towels at night... must be in the water.
have the same in my back garden. so far spotted fox, squirrel
and rat. not caught any actually digging though !
Baby robin?
largest plants are slender and deciduous (red stems and variegated foliage, name escapes me
Sounds like Cornus alba, or dogwood. Very pretty in winter but not really hedging material
Same happened to me after laying bark chippings. Got woken to the sound of weird grunting in the middle of the night. Turned out to be a badger... and not my wife.
Having recently purchased a new house on a new build estate
Meanwhile on singlebadgertrackworld there's a thread asking, [i]what bombers for the buggers who built an estate in my garden[/i] , going strong..
[i]Turned out to be a badger... and not my wife. [/i]
How did a badger get in your bed?
No not a badger. We had loads of bark in our last house and had exactly the same thing. It was Blackbirds. They can excavate quite a few holes looking for grubs and insect's.
Sounds very much like a badger, they dig looking for worms or insect larvae.
You could chicken wire over the grass, the grass will grow through but the badgers won't dig into it.
Or you could do what we do and feed them so they don't bother digging. A handful of peanuts out on the decking and the badger comes every night for them but no longer digs in the lawn.
Fantastic creatures to watch, and pretty blind so you can get very close if you are quiet.
[url= https://c1.staticflickr.com/6/5645/30041168523_a9b38dcd58_b.jp g" target="_blank">https://c1.staticflickr.com/6/5645/30041168523_a9b38dcd58_b.jp g"/> [/img][/url][url= https://flic.kr/p/MLCQMr ]IMG_8251[/url] by [url= https://www.flickr.com/photos/97014723@N07/ ]Tim Russon[/url], on Flickr
Is there any poo in the bottom of the excavations? Badgers usually do that, a bit like cats but without covering it up.
When, in the history of forever, has a cat ever actually covered up their shit? The cats local to me take actual pleasure from leaving their shit on display.
Badgers are bastards - sounds like them.
Nothing works. Move
Badger? Your garden (Or wife) covered in white sticky stuff?!
Pyrocanthus makes a great hedge, it doesn't send out suckers like blackthorn does, it has lots of small white flowers, which in turn gives bright red and yellow berries which birds will go for if the weather gets particularly cold, driving them in from open countryside. I've had flocks of Redwing and Fieldfare on my front hedges.
Watch the thorns, though; when you finally have to trim it, you'll need thick welders gloves, or thick Kevlar gloves to pick the damned stuff up, and it'll stick through the soles of shoes if they're not too thick.
Not unlike blackthorn in that respect. Worth mixing some holly in with it too, I've got some mixed in with mine.
Possibly a deer.
Russians or Donald Trump or more likely both.
Do you have any waste ground nearby that rabbits could hide in? They can very quickly dig a hole for no apparent reason, but likely prospecting for easy digging to house their new family, which doing what rabbits do, expands quite quickly.
The foxes dig hole about 6 inches deep in our garden, not sure what they are after, the only thing down there are bulbs.
Are badgers still active now it's something like winter. They sort-of hibernate, don't they? They will dig for leatherjackets, chafer grubs and the like. Grey squirrels will dig up bulbs: I'm not sure if they're allowed out at night.
Add another vote for Cornus (dogwood) with the coloured stems.
Still see 'our' badger every evening, I don't think they fully hibernate.
Badger are just getting active at the moment.
However, you don't live in the Forest of Dean do you?
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I have badgers digging holes all over the lawn, landlord advised me to wee on the lawn as it deters them apparently, yet to put into practice
Must be Moles!
Boris trying to escape Stalag Luft III whilst not being put on the naughty step by the EU?
Many thanks for the varied replies guys. I think I have to date at least 29 different perps, including my wife apparently. Will set about narrowing it down soon.. Last night's repair work didn't show any poo in the shallow holes, but it did seem that the majority of the holes were in fact at the base of the plants I mentioned- the red stemmed Cornus alba (cheers John Drummer) exposing some root material.. so it appears whatever it is is after the roots of the plants. No bulbs panted as far as I know as the developer landscaper did the work. Boring old rabbits perhaps?
It's almost certainly not a mole btw as someone mentioned. I know a mole hill when i see it. The mulch is being dug out from the top (2 to 3 trowel fulls), and the patch is NOT turfed so thankfully I'm not seeing large scale damage as shown above..
Badger is the likely culprit. Best way to check is to give the fresh holes a gentle sniff. If they smell badgery that will confirm it.
Badgers prefer grass to soil under plants. After insects rather than roots. But still active, one ran up the road in front of me last night.
Yes - Moles are good - leave lovely tilth. Badgers just leave ankle traps.
turns out it was a young family of deer. case closed sarge' *credits roll