The Mole , Talpa euopaea
Moles are a regular visitor at the Meadow Hide , we have never seen one which is normal but the evident there , with their distinctive mole hills periodically appearing in the grass path to the hide. The mole is a small mammal that spends most of it’s life underground in a network of tunnels.. The mole has no ears and very small eyes and is covered in a greyish black fur and a pink
Male moles are called “boars” and female moles are called “sows”.
Moles are solitary animals that occupy their own territories. They spend most of the time below ground digging tunnels. Many mole tunnel systems are permanent and used by generations of moles, while others are temporary, such as in the surface of a recently planted field. Their distribution is directly related to the abundance of earthworms in an area. They prefer wetter soils, near streams for example, and are often found in woodland because there is a greater abundance of prey. More usual is a system of permanent deep burrows which form a complex network hundreds of metres long at varying depths in the soil. The deepest tunnels are used most in times of drought and low temperatures. Permanent tunnels are used repeatedly for feeding over long periods of time, sometimes by several generations of moles.
Moles are not blind, however, their small eyes leave them reliant on their sense of smell and touch to navigate tunnels.
Moles must eat over 50% of their body weight each day to avoid starvation. Their primary source of food is earthworms, though they also eat insect larvae and occasionally small reptiles and mice. Moles have a toxin in their saliva that they use to paralyze earthworms by biting the head segment. They store the paralyzed earthworms in underground larders, which can have hundreds of worms in them at a time.
Mole tunnels can reach up to 70m in length.
Males and females are solitary for most of the year, occupying exclusive territories. With the start of the breeding season males enlarge their territories, tunnelling over large areas in search of females. Within the tunnel system moles construct one or more spherical nest chambers, each lined with a ball of dry plant material. Nests are used for sleeping and for raising young. A litter of 3 or 4 naked babies is born in the spring. Fur starts to grow at 14 days, eyes open at 22 days and they are weaned at 4-5 weeks. The young start to leave the nest at 33 days and disperse from their mother’s range at 5-6 weeks.
Moles can dig tunnels at a rate of up to 15 feet per hour.
Most moles don’t live beyond 3 years but they can live up to 6 years. The Moles main predators are tawny owls and buzzards, stoats, cats and dogs, along with some vehicular casualties. Humans also kill many as pests of agriculture. However Moles can be beneficial to man, preying on many harmful insect larvae such as cockchafers and carrot fly, while tunnels help drain and aerate heavy soils.
Cute – we’ve seen evidence of them in our yard but have never seen one