On 21 Apr, 11:07, Robert wrote:
In message m, Peter
James writes



On Fri, 20 Apr 2007 18:05:43 +0100, Chris Hogg wrote
(in article ):

My mother has a very neat and tidy garden of which she is justifiably
proud (she is 87 and suffers quite badly from arthritis). But from
time to time, especially in dry weather it seems, her lawn gets dug up
by what she says are badgers. It's either badgers or foxes. Whichever,
during the night her lawn gets covered in small holes, like golfer's
divots, where some animal has presumably been digging for worms. The
neighbours suffer the same problem.

Is there a anything she can scatter to deter them? The garden is well
fenced and there's no obvious sign of where they come in, although
they may come over the front wall, about 4ft high. Recently she's
tried painting bits of wood and odd lumps of concrete with (proper)
creosote and leaving them around the garden in the hope that the smell
would deter whatever it is, but to no avail.

Any suggestions? (She doesn't have access to lion dung!)

If this is badger activity they will be after worms. Can you kill the worms
in the lawn thus making it less attractive for them. Their are numerous
products on the market for doing this on golf putting greens, croquet lawns
etc.
One of the most effective chemical repellers against badgers was a product
called "Renardine" that was also effective against Foxes. But as I
understand, it has been withdrawn from sale.

The earthworm is a major food source for badgers and they can consume a
vast amount, however, like birds, they tend to pick them off the surface
or pull/suck them from the earth. Worms, being sensitive to vibration,
will dive for cover when there is heavy rain or much badger activity
which is when the badgers will start snuffling for them.

As you mention, molluscicides (thiophanate-methyl and carbendazim) are
available but as worms are very important for good soil structure
(improving aeration and drainage and processing a very high percentage
of the organic matter in soils), their use is very much a double-edged
sword.

One area where a pesticide can be useful is controlling leatherjackets
which are another garden favourite of badgers where digging invariably
takes place. As far as I am aware leatherjackets are not of any great
benefit to the soil and most certainly consume grass roots and the good
news is that there is an effective nematode based solution to this
problem from Nemasys as well as chemical controls such as Provado lawn
grub killer which claims 'not to harm beneficial organisms'.
--
Robert

Another problems wit Badgers can be their love of fresh Veg.
Last year they cleared a 20 ft row of carrots in 2 nights after I had
pulled the first bunch for us, also they have completly cleared my
patch of Jerusalem Artichokes (Don't let anyone tell you that once you
have them they are there for life). Also cleared sweetcorn in one
night just before it was ready to pick.
David Hill
Abacus Nurseries