On 21/01/2012 13:58, Jake wrote:
On Sat, 21 Jan 2012 13:06:27 +0000, Farmer
wrote:

Hello Everyone. I am new to this newsgroup - I live in Shropshire - and
have a question that relates to some land that I own near to where I live.

I have a two acre field, and have fenced off a largish area which I have
turned into an allotment. Over the last year or two, and particularly
this year, I have been plagued by moles. I have set traps, and have
caught several, but the number of molehills just keeps on increasing,
and now the entire field is virtually full of them. In addition to this
I now have a further problem in that large areas of turf are being dug
up, almost in the manner I would expect if I had a couple of pigs in
there - which I do not.

I believe the digging is being done by badgers, although I can't find
any setts nearby. Both the badgers and the number of moles in my field
and garden I put down to a high worm population - I am 100% organic.

All the land that surrounds my field is grazed by sheep or cut for hay,
with the farmers using a fair amount of nitrogen fertiliser. The
interesting thing is that their fields are barely affected in the way
mine is, and my theory is that the inorganic nitrogen and other top
dressings being used discourage worm activity.

Anyone got any views on this?

Most earthworm species prefer soil with a pH between 5 and 7ish.
Repeated use of nitrogen based fertilisers over time (and this is
years rather than months) will raise the soil acidity and if the soil
pH drops below 4 as a result, then earthworms will largely be absent
from the area. So if your soil is within the earthworm heaven range
they've all moved to your field and a high concentration of worms
leads to a high concentration of critters that feed on them.

In a small garden area, moles can be deterred by reducing the soil pH
in order to reduce the worm population. Plus, of course, it's a
smaller area to set traps in and, indeed, likely that the problem is a
single mole (apart from the mating season) as they're very
territorial. But a 2 acre field is not going to be as easy to deal
with.

Moles don't like disturbance. If fields around are being ploughed then
that will deter them and they'll migrate to your quieter surroundings.
Maybe you could get a neighbouring farmer to plough the bit of your
field that isn't allotment? February to March is main mole nookie time
- probably why the number of molehills is increasing at the moment -
so disturbing them now may have some effect. If nothing else it will
demolish their existing tunnel network. Trouble is that if the field
remains worm central then they'll be back.

Thanks for that, which does seem to confirm my theory. None of the
fields surrounding mine have been ploughed - it's all pasture land - so
it would seem to be the regular applications of nitrogen that are
sending the worms, followed by the moles and badgers, over to my place.

Ploughing my field is not really an option - and it would also,
presumably, serve to increase the problem in the allotment area. I
suppose I just have to keep on trapping them!

Incidentally, I don't go along with this (common) view that moles are
solitary operators, I think they are much more numerous in small areas
than is generally believed. I myself have trapped dozens in my field
over the last two or three years, and others tell me similar stories,
but they don't seem to be reducing in number!