Amazing Mr Mole (or Talpidae to be posh).
It never ceases to amaze me just how much earth a mole can move.
I have just completed a mammoth Mole control job at a well known leisure park where in excess of 1000 moles hills once stood. Just think about that for a moment... 1000 hills with each hill comprising around 2Kg’s of soil.... that’s around 2 tonnes!! Weighing in at around 100 grams, some 800 times smaller than myself on a good day, that is the equivalent of asking me to move 1600 tonnes of soil for a daily feed of worms.
I once asked somebody why moles made tunnels and the reply was that they were perhaps shy. Perhaps, but the tunnel network that they develop and maintain provides an ideal way to harvest the worms that just happen to tunnel into the run. However, it seems that you can never have too many worms and a little known fact about moles is that their saliva contains a neuro-toxin that causes paralysis in the worm it catches. Once in their grasp, the worms are often taken back to a deeper level of the tunnel network and stored in a larder, especially during reproductive cycles. Whilst nobody appreciates waking up to a devastated garden, you have to admire their abilities.
Thank you to Justin from Prokill Thames West for contributing this article. For more information on Pest Control please visit: http://www.thebestof.co.uk/local/swindon/business-guide/feature/prokill-thames-west/77307
