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Cuttings and Clippings - Moles and Molecatching |
Interviews with Tony Wood-Wright, a molecatcher from Devon, and Robin Page, founder and chairman of The Countryside Restoration Trust, from Cambridgeshire, were broadcast on BBC Radio 4's 'Today' programme at 0745 on Friday 16 January 2009. The BBC website described the item:
Mole-catchers across the country are not suffering from the economic downturn. They are reported to be enjoying a boom because of an explosion in the mole population. Environment correspondent Sarah Mukherjee visits Cambridgeshire to discover if catchers are making mountains of money out of molehills.
Adam Edwards meets an accountant turned hunter who aims to make the mole's days numbered.
Mole is, for many of us, the charming self-effacing fellow from The Wind in the Willows who finally defeated the cunning weasel and became an ageless anthropomorphic celebrity, as this year's centenary of Kenneth's Grahame's book attests. But some do not feel so warmly towards the little burrower.
It is true he makes a charming soft toy and is a champion of the Jacobites – it was a molehill that tripped the horse of William III and threw the unpopular English monarch to his death in 1702 – but the mole's burrows and mounds are the scourge of the nation's cricket pitches, lawns and graveyards. His unseen tunnelling is the ruination of our green and pleasant land. And there is little we can do about it.
Gassing, smoking, flooding, sonic posts, vibrating devices, broken glass, holly, mothballs, Jeyes Fluid, diesel fuel, poisoned worms and chewing gum will not stop him. Ian Dando, on the other hand, might.
Dando is a former accountant who ran way from maths to become a molecatcher in the Cotswolds. "I always wanted to work outside," says Dando, an avuncular figure in britches who has a ruddy complexion and ready laugh. "I hated working in an office. My grandfather had been a molecatcher and I learnt the skills from him as a young boy. I always knew it was a more interesting trade than accountancy."
Catching moles is a rare and ancient skill cloaked in mystery. The catcher is traditionally a solitary figure who was historically given free board and lodging in return for his mystical skills. (Moles are themselves wrapped in superstition. For example, a pair of the animal's front feet worn around the neck is supposed to prevent rheumatism. And a mole tunnel ringing a property is claimed to predict a death in the household.)
"Moles are incredible creatures who are very sensitive to any change in the environment," says Dando, displaying a labour – the official collective noun for moles – of the dead pests in the back of a pick-up truck that has "Molecatcher" written along its panels. "If you could lift up the turf where you know there are moles, it would look like Spaghetti Junction multiplied 10 times."
The national census of 1801 makes it clear that there were mole catchers working throughout Britain 200 years ago and that their customers ranged from large farms and estates to local parishes, who needed the moles removed from churchyards, and the rich, who wanted their gardens cleared of the creature. And it was a profitable business, as the molecatcher was paid not only for each mole that he trapped but also for the animal's pelts, which were used extensively for clothing.
Those who practised the trade tended to fall into the same esoteric category as horse whisperers and water-diviners. Nobody quite knew how they did it and no one is any the wiser today.
"I trap moles in a traditional way as opposed to trying to gas them or using a sonic device," says Dando, who is a member of the exclusive British Traditional Molecatchers Register (it has fewer than 50 members), which was formed last year and whose motto is: "We don't make a mountain out of a molehill."
"I prod the ground with a pole and when I find a mole run I dig up the turf. If it is a fresh run, I set a trap in the tunnel and replace the turf. Then I wait for a couple of days. You have to understand the mole. Once you do, then trapping him becomes clearer and easier."
Dando makes it sound simple, but it is a fine art to find the run and set the trap. He estimates that he catches more than 1,500 moles a year and, like his ancient predecessors, he is paid by the number of moles he catches. But even if he worked every hour of the day for seven days a week, he says, he would only make a tiny dent in the local population of moles.
"Since last autumn, we have seen an unusually high number of moles. Nobody knows why. The mole has no natural disease that might periodically wipe it out and it has no natural predators. You could say I am its only enemy. And I am pitting myself against what is a wild animal. It is exciting, although not much of a spectator sport, and you get to visit beautiful places and meet super people."
But, in this Wind in the Willows centenary year, Dando might wish to be circumspect about telling those of a child-like disposition too many details about his new rural career. And he might be advised to temporarily change the name on his truck to "Weasel Protection Officer".
Anyone who has ever tried to get rid of a mole from the garden may find it hard to believe but the species is feared to be on the wane.
Moles are notoriously hard to remove once they have infested a field or lawn, but a lack of the invertebrate species that they eat may be stopping them in their tracks.
Conservationists are concerned that this may be a sign of a deeper problem in Britain’s ecosystem so they have started a project to encourage the public to help to conduct a survey to establish where the animals can still be found. The best clues, of course, are molehills. The mounds of earth thrown up to the surface, often over manicured lawns, are the most visible sign of moles and are an ideal indicator of their presence.
By collecting sightings from all over the country the People’s Trust for Endangered Species hopes to build up a detailed map of where they can still be found.
Jill Nelson, the chief executive of the trust, recognises that to many gardeners and equestrians, whose horses can break their legs by stepping on molehills, moles are anathema but she defended the animals as an important part of the ecosystem.
“If moles are in trouble in an area it’s an indication that the things they are feeding on might be in trouble, which may in turn point to some trouble with the land. Ultimately, it will affect us,” she said.
“The only thing I can say for gardeners is, ‘If you have moles you obviously have very healthy land’. The fact your lawn has been dug up is perhaps unfortunate but at least it’s a healthy environment,” she added.
Moles can be a friend to gardeners because they eat pest species of insect larvae including leatherjackets, cockchafers and carrot flies.
Ms Nelson added: “Seeing a molehill is the only reliable means we have of recording the presence of moles. By gathering this information from surveyors across the UK we will be able to produce a distribution map of moles and judge whether there are areas where they are scarce.”
The MoleWatch survey runs until the end of the year and volunteers have already recorded 16,000 sightings of molehills. For details go to www.molewatch.org.uk.
Secretive lives
— Moles live virtually all their lives underground. They come to the surface only in the breeding season to collect leaves for nests.
— They like earthworms and beetles. An adult eats almost two thirds of its body weight each day They create a network of tunnels into which invertebrates fall. The mole’s saliva paralyses earthworms so that they can be stored in specially constructed larders.
— There are 42 species worldwide. Up to 25 can live in 1 hectare.
— At the start of the 20th century more than 1 million moleskins were sold in London annually and 12 million were being sent to US to be used in breeches, waistcoats and ladies’ coats.
Source: PTES, Encyclopedia of Mammals, Times database.
Use of the poison strychnine to kill moles will be banned from next September.
The Government announcement brought protests from landowners yesterday who said the poison was the only viable way of eliminating the pests in pastures.
Landowners said they were "shocked" to receive letters from the Department for the Environment, Food and Rural Affairs saying that strychnine would be effectively outlawed by two EU directives on pesticides. Permits to use the poison, which is banned in other EU countries, would continue to be issued up to August 1 next year, but its use would be banned by September, said the letter.
Landowners say moles can be controlled in gardens by other means, but on a field scale, strychnine is an important tool.
A mole population explosion is wreaking havoc on lawns, golf links, racecourses and farms - and the animals are moving to previously uncolonised areas.
The outbreak was sparked by the foot-and-mouth epidemic two years ago, when mole catchers were banned from farms. A shortage of strychnine, the poison they use under licence, has only exacerbated the problem.
Moles also endanger racehorses and cattle, wreck farm machinery and damage flood defences. Richard Strand, executive director of the Pest Control Association, said he had had complaints nationwide about the population boom. Mole catchers have been inundated with calls but without poison they must resort to trapping, which is more costly. Many farms cannot afford it.
"There are more of them and they seem to be extending their area to where they haven’t been seen before, such as ornamental gardens and parks," Mr Strand said. "We are approaching the main mole breeding season and it is the most effective time to control them. But we don’t know when we are going to get more stocks of the poison - certainly not before September."
Jack Kent, from Nottingham, has caught moles for nearly 30 years and is amazed by the increase in their numbers. "I’ve never had that many before," he said. He added: "On race courses horses trip over their mounds; on farms the earth contaminates the silage, and stones and earth damage the mowing machines. Moles can also destroy flood protection. One hole in a flood bank and the pressure of water can rip it apart."
He charges about £80 to rid moles from a four-acre plot using poison, a minimum of £160 in London and the South East, and between £30 and £40 if a gamekeeper or farmer does the job. Using traps adds an extra £15 an hour because of the increased labour and travel time in laying traps and checking them every 48 hours.
Thornton and Ross, a pharmaceutical company in Huddersfield, is the only firm in Britain licensed to import and distribute strychnine. It scaled down orders from India during foot-and-mouth but stocks have run out and it has been unable to renew supplies.
Moles and Molecatchers Guest Book
Brian Alderton, North Yorkshire Molecatcher
