What is digging holes in my garden?
What is digging holes in my garden?
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Discussion

CTO

Original Poster:

3,016 posts

240 months

Tuesday 29th July 2025
quotequote all
Evening all,

Over the last two days, these weird marks have started appearing in one specific part of my lawn.

It almost looks as though something has been scratching/clawing at the surface.

Yesterday’s the grass/soil was disturbed, so I raked it over. This morning the marks are back, and if anything, worse..

Pics below (not very good ones)







The last one is where I pulled up some of the grass to see what was beneath… answer is some kind of scratch mark/small hole maybe?

So, learned Percy Throwers of Pistonheads…

What’s occurring here? A band of boisterous badgers? A delinquent deer with some buried acorns, or is it rabbits running rampant?

I have plenty of all of the above, and some frolicking foxes..

Cheers all

The Three D Mucketeer

7,495 posts

257 months

Tuesday 29th July 2025
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Untidy moles ? smile

Digger

16,957 posts

221 months

Tuesday 29th July 2025
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Apologies, I was a tad bored last night.

Kwackersaki

1,761 posts

258 months

Tuesday 29th July 2025
quotequote all
You may have Chafer grubs and the birds are digging them up. I had them all over the lawn once and it completely ruined it.

CTO

Original Poster:

3,016 posts

240 months

Tuesday 29th July 2025
quotequote all
Digger said:
Apologies, I was a tad bored last night.
User name computes laugh

saknog

126 posts

139 months

Tuesday 29th July 2025
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First thought someone’s hammered frozen sausages in the ground for wild life to dig up, upset anyone recently?

CTO

Original Poster:

3,016 posts

240 months

Tuesday 29th July 2025
quotequote all
saknog said:
First thought someone s hammered frozen sausages in the ground for wild life to dig up, upset anyone recently?
Only the usual suspects really
My wife
My wife’s mum
My mum
My family
My friends
Most of my workmates
The dog
The man down the road with the silly hat
The birds
Elon Musk

That’s just the ones off the top of my head

Dog Biscuit

2,744 posts

27 months

Tuesday 29th July 2025
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Rats

CTO

Original Poster:

3,016 posts

240 months

Tuesday 29th July 2025
quotequote all
Dog Biscuit said:
Rats
Haven’t upset them tbf….

In seriousness, why rats and why there ?

motco

17,654 posts

276 months

Tuesday 29th July 2025
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Badgers did it to mine. Watch to the end as they say, you'll see one of the holes they left.

Badger digging

It even had the temerity to crap in the holes occasionally!

NiceCupOfTea

25,607 posts

281 months

Tuesday 29th July 2025
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Foxes.

2 sMoKiN bArReLs

32,038 posts

265 months

Tuesday 29th July 2025
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Kwackersaki said:
You may have Chafer grubs and the birds are digging them up. I had them all over the lawn once and it completely ruined it.
This, or leather jackets.

Pull up the scrapings & see the bugs wriggling underneath.

2 sMoKiN bArReLs

32,038 posts

265 months

Tuesday 29th July 2025
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Although the grass doesn't look too bad. The grubs kill the grass as well as the animals digging them up.


2 sMoKiN bArReLs

32,038 posts

265 months

Tuesday 29th July 2025
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Chafer grubs in my garden




PhilboSE

6,182 posts

256 months

Tuesday 29th July 2025
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Badgers

Mr Magooagain

13,620 posts

200 months

Tuesday 29th July 2025
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Is that a raised deck? Or a shed? Could well be rats.

bigdom

2,360 posts

175 months

Tuesday 29th July 2025
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Badgers did similar to neighbours lawns, Magpies did that to my front lawn about 6 months ago.

Piersman2

6,676 posts

229 months

Tuesday 29th July 2025
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Any squirells around? Could be burying nuts for winter... they've made my lawn look like that a few times in the past, before getting the dog anyways.

Richard-D

2,273 posts

94 months

Tuesday 29th July 2025
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The picture in the OP is classic vole/field mouse. We get plenty of them, tunnel just under the surface that you can tread down.

DonkeyApple

70,514 posts

199 months

Tuesday 29th July 2025
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Looks like something digging for food but not something particularly large. If daytime then in would be a bird like a Corvid but if overnight then one would assume it's a hedgehog.