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!)


--
Chris

E-mail: christopher[dot]hogg[at]virgin[dot]net

In article ,
Chris Hogg writes:
| 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.

Badgers would get in through or under the fence, and you couldn't miss
where they did it! Far more likely to be foxes or perhaps squirrels.
They do that to me, searching for the walnuts they buried.


Regards,
Nick Maclaren.

On 20/4/07 18:05, in article ,
"Chris Hogg" wrote:

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.

I think badgers would make a lot more mess than that.

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!)

She could try the water scarer mentioned in the What's the best thing to
keep cats outs....? thread but she'd need to be sure to remember to turn it
off each morning so it doesn't get her! If it's only for a shortish period
each year, can she learn to live with it on the grounds that it's a hungry
animal looking for food - sort of 'learn to love your personal wildlife'?
--
Sacha
http://www.hillhousenursery.co.uk
South Devon
http://www.discoverdartmoor.co.uk/
(remove weeds from address)

"Chris Hogg" wrote in message
...
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!)



My sympathies are with your Mother, my daughter had her Tennis Court
undermined by Badgers :-((

Mike


--
.................................................. ..............
The Royal Naval Electrical Branch Association.
'THE' Association if you served in the Electrical Branch of the Royal Navy
www.rneba.org.uk

In message , Chris Hogg
writes
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 they are small holes - a one and a half to two inches across, and
similarly deep with steep sides, they are likely to be the result of
bird activity, quite possibly a Green woodpecker after ants. A hole
created by a fox will generally be a bit wider and shallower with a
sloping side. Badger scrapes or snuffle holes tend to be wider still (up
to six inches) with clearly sloping sides, scattering the spoil over a
fairly wide area.

Badgers are creatures of habit and if they are visiting regularly they
are likely to enter and leave the garden in the same places every night,
leaving traces of their presence as they do so - clearly defined holes
in a hedge, dirty paw prints on the face or top of a wall and, after a
while and particularly noticeable when lack of rain has slowed the
growth of the grass, quite distinct paths where they have repeatedly
crossed the lawn.

Whilst I have observed our local badgers scramble on top of a sub 3'
rendered wall (where they can get their claws over the top) I think it
unlikely that they would climb over a 4' wall unless it was dry stone
walling or similar, whereas a healthy fox would have no problem.

In the event that it is badgers causing the problem, the bad news is
that they are not easy to discourage. A number of badgers visit our
garden every night and we accept that occasionally they will decide to
dig a few holes in a lawn. As the holes are invariable in a fairly
close grouping we lay a piece of green one inch fencing mesh
horizontally on the area for a few nights which has always solved the
problem - strangely they do not tend to dig in another area. To exclude
badgers from a garden completely is a bit difficult unless you have a
badger proof perimeter. From memory the use of creosote as a deterrent
is now illegal (as well as being somewhat ineffective). Low level
electric fencing is very effective where the cost is justified.

The Badger Trust produce some useful information on this subject:
http://www.badger.org.uk/questions/b...our-garden.pdf
and you may find this from the Cornwall Wildlife Trust interesting:
http://www.cornwallwildlifetrust.org...als/badger.htm

I appreciate that wildlife damage can be quite upsetting for someone who
is a keen gardener and if I can help any further please let me know.
--
Robert

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.

On 21/4/07 08:18, in article
, "Peter James"
wrote:

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.

Kill the worms and kill the lawn. Far better to live with what seems to be
slight damage just for a short time while the animal feeds itself.

--
Sacha
http://www.hillhousenursery.co.uk
South Devon
http://www.discoverdartmoor.co.uk/
(remove weeds from address)

In article , Robert
wrote:

In message , Chris Hogg
writes
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 they are small holes - a one and a half to two inches across, and
similarly deep with steep sides, they are likely to be the result of
bird activity, quite possibly a Green woodpecker after ants. A hole
created by a fox will generally be a bit wider and shallower with a
sloping side. Badger scrapes or snuffle holes tend to be wider still (up
to six inches) with clearly sloping sides, scattering the spoil over a
fairly wide area.

Badgers are creatures of habit and if they are visiting regularly they
are likely to enter and leave the garden in the same places every night,
leaving traces of their presence as they do so - clearly defined holes
in a hedge, dirty paw prints on the face or top of a wall and, after a
while and particularly noticeable when lack of rain has slowed the
growth of the grass, quite distinct paths where they have repeatedly
crossed the lawn.

Whilst I have observed our local badgers scramble on top of a sub 3'
rendered wall (where they can get their claws over the top) I think it
unlikely that they would climb over a 4' wall unless it was dry stone
walling or similar, whereas a healthy fox would have no problem.

In the event that it is badgers causing the problem, the bad news is
that they are not easy to discourage. A number of badgers visit our
garden every night and we accept that occasionally they will decide to
dig a few holes in a lawn. As the holes are invariable in a fairly
close grouping we lay a piece of green one inch fencing mesh
horizontally on the area for a few nights which has always solved the
problem - strangely they do not tend to dig in another area. To exclude
badgers from a garden completely is a bit difficult unless you have a
badger proof perimeter. From memory the use of creosote as a deterrent
is now illegal (as well as being somewhat ineffective). Low level
electric fencing is very effective where the cost is justified.

The Badger Trust produce some useful information on this subject:
http://www.badger.org.uk/questions/b...our-garden.pdf
and you may find this from the Cornwall Wildlife Trust interesting:
http://www.cornwallwildlifetrust.org...als/badger.htm

I appreciate that wildlife damage can be quite upsetting for someone who
is a keen gardener and if I can help any further please let me know.

Thank you for a nicely written post. I had a well-worn badger track
traversing my lawn until I saw the old boy make a detour via the patio
to take advantage of fallen pears. Once the tree had stopped fruiting,
I got into the habit of leaving a Waitrose ripe pear out there once a
week and he still kept making the detour every night. He activates the
security lights and I get lovely views of him through the French
windows at around 2am if I'm still up.

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

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

On 21/4/07 13:12, in article
, "Dave Hill"
wrote:

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
snip
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

I don't think this sounds like badgers, though. I'm x-ing my fingers when I
say this but we've never had badgers in this garden but from what I
understand, there is no mistaking a visit from them. Everything I've read
seems to speak of utter havoc not 'small holes'!
--
Sacha
http://www.hillhousenursery.co.uk
South Devon
http://www.discoverdartmoor.co.uk/
(remove weeds from address)

"Sacha" wrote in message
. uk...

understand, there is no mistaking a visit from them. Everything I've read
seems to speak of utter havoc not 'small holes'!
--
Sacha


Like I said, you should have seen what they did to my daughter's Tennis
Court!!!

:-((((((

Mike


--
.................................................. ..............
The Royal Naval Electrical Branch Association.
'THE' Association if you served in the Electrical Branch of the Royal Navy
www.rneba.org.uk

In message .com, Dave
Hill writes
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


That is interesting if very unfortunate. I know that they eat nuts and
some fruits (some of our local badgers will eat apples but others shun
them) and they are supposed to eat bulbs. I read somewhere that they
particularly enjoy the roots of Arum maculatum (cuckoo pint) but during
the last 12 years none of the local clan (around a dozen animals) have
touched any of the many such plants that we have around the periphery of
our garden.

During several years of observing them it has often occurred to me that
whilst they have many common traits they are very much individuals with
their particular likes and dislikes.

--
Robert

In message , Sacha
writes
On 21/4/07 13:12, in article
.com, "Dave Hill"
wrote:

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
snip
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

I don't think this sounds like badgers, though. I'm x-ing my fingers when I
say this but we've never had badgers in this garden but from what I
understand, there is no mistaking a visit from them. Everything I've read
seems to speak of utter havoc not 'small holes'!

I think that perhaps the OP needs to indicate more about the size and
shape of the holes before coming to a conclusion as to what is creating
them.

There is no doubt that badgers can produce 'utter havoc' - I have seen a
farm track quite dramatically undermined by the creation of a new sett
and I know people who have lived in harmony with visiting badgers for
years who have suddenly experienced considerable damage to lawns.

It does not, however, follow that the presence of badgers in a garden
necessarily results in noticeable damage let alone major problems. It
never ceases to amaze me how many people are not aware that badgers pass
through their gardens on a nightly basis.

--
Robert

On 21/4/07 15:31, in article , "Robert"
wrote:

In message , Sacha
writes
snip

I don't think this sounds like badgers, though. I'm x-ing my fingers when I
say this but we've never had badgers in this garden but from what I
understand, there is no mistaking a visit from them. Everything I've read
seems to speak of utter havoc not 'small holes'!

I think that perhaps the OP needs to indicate more about the size and
shape of the holes before coming to a conclusion as to what is creating
them.

There is no doubt that badgers can produce 'utter havoc' - I have seen a
farm track quite dramatically undermined by the creation of a new sett
and I know people who have lived in harmony with visiting badgers for
years who have suddenly experienced considerable damage to lawns.

It does not, however, follow that the presence of badgers in a garden
necessarily results in noticeable damage let alone major problems. It
never ceases to amaze me how many people are not aware that badgers pass
through their gardens on a nightly basis.

I should have put my post more clearly - we get them passing through the
garden but not digging in them - more x-ed fingers! But we know they've
been around if only because the dogs find the evidence and roll in it - same
with foxes. Yuk! And we often see big holes in the base of hedges where
badgers have pushed their way through and onto a lane.
--
Sacha
http://www.hillhousenursery.co.uk
South Devon
http://www.discoverdartmoor.co.uk/
(remove weeds from address)