Habitat

The mole can be found all over the uk from the farmland plains to our gardens in our towns and citys .

Distribution in the uk

Can be found throughout the british isles parts of Scotland in Wales and Northern Ireland.

  Months seen

All year round.

Food eaten

Moles feed mainly on worms ,grubs and other insects.

Habits

Mole's have long, powerful claws on the front pair of legs which allows them to power through the earth where they are capable of digging rapidly, using their powerful forefeet and claws to push the earth back behind them. also they are very shy mammals and dig below the surface of the ground for their food, which consists principally of earthworms and insect larvae as they have to feed around the clock to keep there energy levels up moles sleep for 3 to 4 hours per day and then they are off again feeding and tunelling . Moles dig close to the surface of the top soil where they construct their elaborate burrows with many chambers and their burrowing often produces ridges on the surface allowing preditors to track there movements and find there nesting chambers.

Tracking

Moles are easily tracked on frosty mornings when old mole hills are either frozen or a lot duller and newer hills are darker and the soil is usually finer whichcan give you an indication of when the mole was last active meaning that because moles sleep for 3 to 4 hours then begin digging so if you tread softly until you actually see soil movement if you do see movement then if you create vibrations or move to close to where the mole is active then they will move to a different are or stay below ground. Another good indication is worms digging out from mole hills or the mole traveling tunnels as worms tend to panic when moles are near by.

Courtship

The female mole builds her nest in a football sized chamber lined with dead leaves and grass. A larger molehill may cover the breeding nest in spring and the young are born with from mat to June they have about four or five per litter. Moles are born naked until two weeks  when there fur begins to grow and the young leave the nest at two weeks. and are born in enlarged nest chambers are built at the centre of tunnel networks in which they weave a ball of dried grass and are built above the surface if the soil is not deep enough for a conventional nestmoles build fortresses to keep the young safe from predators like the fox which can find the nesting chamber with ease when in shallow soil.

Check out our Mole pages Below :

Photographs taken by Sue Robb ,Mike Mottram