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?