Badger, mole or something else?

QTPie

Help please identifying the pest... (we have a lovely big, flat well tended lawn that something is enjoying digging up and opng on too...).


(diggings near a bed/trees)


(isolated digging on another part of the lawn - but seem to be some more in the bed behind).


Poo - look to be round, probably squashed by the lawn mower (and some matted into the grass probably because of the mower). They are in an area of about a metre by a metre, seem to be scattered - not in an obvious clump, and of varying freshness (so added to over time).

Interestingly we had what I thought was isolated cat poo over the past few weeks/month. About 3 occurrences, not round (slightly longer), completely isolated. I put a number of ultrasonic deterrent devices around the lawn and the recent poo/diggings have only appeared SINCE the ultrasonic devices were put up (coincidence?). I have now swapped frequencies from "cat/dog" to "cycle all" (which includes foxes and smaller rodents).

Apart from not wanting my lawn dug up, we also have a child and don't really want him running in poo.

Do we have a mole, a badger? If it is a mole I can get the trapper back. Advice re badgers?

Also what to do about the poo? I might be able to pick up some of it and dispose of it, but some is heavily matted... Hose the rest down?

Thanks.

C_J

That's definitely badger damage (and poo). Legally of course there's not much you can do as they are protected, but they hate the smell of human urine .......

QTPie

Thank you thank you!

Will double check before I start sprinkling wee over those patches, but that would be brilliant if it works)

DaftyDuck

Male urine, so easier to apply... female not so good!

Not sure if that lets you pass the water, or pass the Buck!

QTPie

Ha ha. Husband will think that I am insane when I start telling him to wee in the garden... Lucky that we are overlooked (when the builders on next door's roof finish work for the day).

Presumably the patches of most digging and poo and also a few other places around the (big) garden?

Should I be looking for a hole in the fence (we have walls 3 sides) and trying to rule out that the set isn't in our garden (no point fencing him IN our garden...)?

bingo_bango

That's a bit of a mess (excuse the pun!).

I can sympathise as I have recently spotted a hedgehog in the garden in the evenings, which coincidentally was a few days after I started cutting the lawn again and found some landmines that I blamed on my cat.

I'm now convinced that the droppings are the hedgehog, and have also spotted that there are lots of little holes around the garden. Only about 2-3 cms around and about the same depth, but enough for me to have to start patching it. Certainly not on the same scale as the problem you have.

I don't actually want to remove the hedgehog, but I wonder if weeing around the garden would have the same effect as it apparently does on the badgers?

Davesnave

Probably badger, but mine always put their poo in the middle of a hole and don't scatter it.

Perhaps I have a better class of badger?

QTPie

Hello Dave - hope that all is well . Bad class of badger in Bath, obviously .

Husband pee'd into a watering can, diluted it (hopefully not too much) and sprinkled it around the effected areas. Will be encouraging him to do that lots. We have a little boy and need to work on his "peeing sanding up" skills, so will work on that - in the garden - too.

Off to investigate the fence too.

Fortunately the mess is at the side of the lawn and not AS noticeable. Unfortunately it is on an area that was reseeded just this Spring (and had grown very nicely). The badger toilet is fairly central in the large lawn. Not great when you have kids...

Davesnave

QTPie wrote: »

Hello Dave - hope that all is well . Bad class of badger in Bath, obviously ..

Hi, the last badger I dealt with in Bath, in 2009, was a very determined creature. I erected a fence for a lady who wanted him out of her small garden, but even a 6" gravel board below the surface was dug under.

I seem to remember that we fixed him/her with concrete, and badgers being creatures of habit, he/she didn't try a different route in.

I'm fine thanks. My house has been knocked to kingdom come this past year, but all the walls are now in the correct places. Another year should fix the rest.

TBagpuss

QTPie wrote: »

Ha ha. Husband will think that I am insane when I start telling him to wee in the garden... Lucky that we are overlooked (when the builders on next door's roof finish work for the day).

Presumably the patches of most digging and poo and also a few other places around the (big) garden?

Should I be looking for a hole in the fence (we have walls 3 sides) and trying to rule out that the set isn't in our garden (no point fencing him IN our garden...)?

Sets are pretty big - unless you garden is enormous it's unlikely you would miss it if it was there.

Also, badgers are pretty good at climbing as well as digging - we used to have them come into our garden over a 6 foot tall (on the side they were coming from) wall.

Is there anything specific they are digging for at present? Ours used to mostly come in the autumn looking for windfall apples.

andrewf75

I like my lawn but I would happily sacrifice it to have badgers in the garden!