Woken up to a fresh row of molehills across the lawn? Before you buy a gadget or a bag of "mole repellent", here are five quick things worth knowing.
1. It's usually one mole, not many
This surprises people. Moles are solitary and territorial, and a single mole can throw up a whole lawn's worth of hills in no time. So what looks like an invasion is nearly always just one very busy resident.
2. What the molehills actually are
They're not nests, and the mole isn't attacking the surface. Molehills are spoil, the loose soil the mole pushes up and out of the way as it digs its tunnels underground. All those hills are just the waste from one animal's excavation.
3. The damage to lawns
Above ground, the hills make a mess, leave the lawn lumpy and throw soil into the mower. Below ground, the tunnels can collapse underfoot and disturb the roots of grass and plants. Not dangerous to people or pets, but frustrating, and a real problem on paddocks and smart lawns.
4. Why the home remedies don't work
Sonic spikes, mothballs, chilli powder, chewing gum, castor oil, none of them reliably clear a mole. At best they might push the digging to another part of the garden for a while, so the hills just reappear a few metres away.
5. Why trapping is the real fix
For a lawn you want to protect, proper trapping in the active tunnels is the reliable method, and getting the placement right is a bit of a skill. If the hills keep spreading, professional garden mole removal is what actually sorts it.
If molehills are taking over and nothing you've tried has worked, Clear Pest Control deals with moles across the North East and will give you an honest steer on whether to act now or wait it out.
See our full guide on the signs of moles and the damage they cause.