Learning to love moles!

Harriet Carty, from Caring for God’s Acre, celebrates a well known but seldom seen churchyard friend

Many of us rarely if ever see an actual mole. But we do however see signs of them, their molehills. Moles breed in spring, between February and June and this is the time when we see new molehills that have been dug by males expanding their tunnel network in search of female mates. They also create spherical nests which they line with dry leaves and grass and the moles will sleep in these nests as well as rearing young there.

Male and female moles spend most of the year alone, living underground and feeling their way around their tunnel network using their sensitive noses and also their tails. They have poor eyesight and are at risk from predators when above ground but underground they are in their element, using large, spade-like forelimbs to expand the network as needed. Most of the tunnels are permanent and quite deep, covering hundreds of metres and lasting for several generations. Moles are fiercely territorial, familiar with their own tunnels and using them to suit the season. In colder or drier weather they head for their deepest tunnels where their main food, earthworms, will be found.

Moles create a winter larder by storing earthworms in a chamber, keeping them alive but immobilising them with a bite to the head segment. Up to 450 worms have been found in one chamber.

They used to be killed in large numbers by trappers to make moleskin clothes from their pelt and were thought of as a problem needing controlling. Actually, moles are both friend and foe - friends as they eat many pests such as wireworms, slugs and snails and also aerate the soil with their tunnelling; foes as they throw up molehills which some see as a problem.

But getting rid of your resident mole may not be a good idea as it leaves a territory open for another mole to move in. It may be best to learn to live with your mole and to press molehills back into the ground or move the soil to flowerbeds or planters. The bare ground they produce also makes space for wildflower seeds to germinate which may not happen in a tight grass sward. So all in all, moles add to the rich diversity of life found within our churchyards and we need to learn to love them!

www.caringforgodsacre.org.uk - individuals and groups in the diocese receive 20% members discount on all CfGA materials. Use the discount code diomem22