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Over a dozen dead moles- be a wildlife detective!
Setting the scene!
Over the years, along a certain section 62 of the Trans Pennine trail, between Forrest Way and the water treatment plant nearby, not far from Gatewarth landfill site in Warrington, I have come across well over a dozen dead moles on the soil surface next to the footpaths. The footpaths, wind their way through trees, past water filled ditches, shrubs, wet boggy areas, long grasses and other tall vegetation. Twice I have found two dead moles within a few 100 m of each other. I have only found them during the summer months. Looking at the lie of the land and noticing the sparsity of vegetation in some areas, evidence of human activity in others, the land was once used for some kind of industry or other human activity and later abandoned. This got me thinking and asking myself some questions. A bit of detective work here for you! The clues are all in the above! What killed them, how were they caught and why were they left? My conclusion is below, if you have other suggestions please add them to the comments! I thought this may appeal to my ex police colleagues!
A crime scene! Path taken by the killer
I have found several dead moles along this path and to the side of it.
Signs of a skilled executioner
They all had two small puncture marks behind their heads where their necks would be and no other visible injury marks at all. I find this intriguing as some predator has precisely and expertly delivered a ‘coup de grace’ clinically and cleanly killing them, only to leave them without trying to conceal them or eat them. Not one had been eaten or partially eaten, nor had they been chewed, or showed any signs of wet or matted fur, as would be the case if a dog or cat had killed them nor any signs of blood elsewhere on the bodies. Just a dead mole in its black suede-like fur, wth just these two little neat puncture marks. As weasels and stoats can kill by inflicting a bite to the neck, I am assuming that it was such an animal that killed these moles. I have seen both weasels and stoats on this site in the past.
How were they caught?
During the nesting season moles will come to the surface to collect nesting material. In times of drought, moles do come to the surface in search of their favourite prey, worms. Where soil is simply not deep enough to tunnel through, moles will have to surface. Where is is too wet and boggy they have to leave that area. Young moles will leave their mothers burrows to search for and find a suitable area for them to start their own tunnel system.
Mole tunnels bordered by gravel path and shrubs
Even though moles are essentially woodland animals, where the forest floor is easy to borrow through and earthworms and tasty invertebrates are in abundance, they have readily adapted to open pastures, parks and arable land. From visual evidence of numerous mole hills in that area, it is safe to presume that moles do indeed live in that area. Although moles have there own burrow systems, their tunnels can and do occasionaly overlap, although they try to avoid one another. However in the breeding season if resident males meet they can and do fight fiercely, sometimes to the death. In the past this area had some industrial usage and the soil in certain places is very thin and therefore not deep enough for moles. Thus their tunnelling and therefore living areas are defined soil, soil type, soil depth, lack of soil and stones, bricks etc., buried in the soil.
Mole activity confined to grassy area by canal to right and gravel path to its left
This in turn will affect the density of moles in given areas within the site, concentrating them within small suitable areas bounded by unsuitable areas. Such areas will be defined by the soil. Where it is suitable moles will live. Where it is unsuitable, this has the potential to cause overcrowding. Stoats and weasels do not dig for their prey. The moles were therefore caught on the surface. Why were they on the surface? These victims went in search of an area in which to dig their own tunnels, to escape a rival male or when searching for their prey, they were caught as prey themselves.
Why abandon a kill?
Why would a predator, spend time, energy and effort in finding and killing its prey and then abandon it? Predators usually kill to eat its catch or cache it for another day. At first I thought perhaps the moles were distasteful, but that is not the case as they have several predators( see below) . Then I searched other areas within the ‘killing zone’ and did not find any other dead moles. I noted that each of the dead moles were found sometimes on the paths or just to the side of them. After they were caught, on the surface, they were carried by the stoat or weasel from the scene of the killing towards the footpaths, were the vegetation made it much easier for the predator to carry its prey to cover or a safer place to eat. However as the paths are regularly used by members of the public on foot, or walking their dogs or cycling, this scared the predator which dropped the mole as it made good its escape.
Some interesting mole facts…
Males are called boars and females called sows.
Moles and eathworms
Although moles will readily catch or eat insect larvae, usually in the summer, such as leather jackets, wire worms and cutworms, their favourite prey is earthworms. An 80g mole needs to eat 50g earthworms a day! They actively dig them out of the soil as they make their underground permanent and semi permanent tunnels, sometimes hundreds of metres long! As moles dig tunnels through soft earth, their favoured prey fall into the tunnels and are either eaten by the mole, or after an immobilising bite behind the head sections of the worms, carried off to an underground cache chamber, to be consumed at leisure! One such chamber was found to be holding 470 worms!
Mole predators
They do have natural predators, including tawny owls, buzzards, weasels and stoats. Moles are killed by cats, dogs and of course humans, who regard them as pests, usually using mole spring traps or poisons. Although you can buy mole traps in garden centres, the mole catchers of yesteryear have been superseded by pest control companies.
Unearthing some mole history!
Dead moles tied to fencing, courtesy of Les Hull.
They have been killed for hundreds of years by humans. In fact moles were regarded as vermin and payments were made to people who caught them. Indeed the bounty, for some people, was the deciding factor that made them become professional mole catchers. Mole catchers in some areas were paid a fixed rate of £3.18s.0d by the local parish and generations of family members carried on with that occupation.The price was different in different parishes. Maulden, Bedfordshire, parishioners drew up a detailed agreement with John Hawkins as a mole catcher in 1710 to……
“sett or cause to be sett traps and engins for the taking and distroying all the moles that now digg or cast up moles or earth in any of the lands, meadows or pastures lying within the said parish…and will spread… all such earth during the said terme of six years: in consideration of such works..the parishioners…shall pay unto the said John Hawkins the summe of two pounds and seven shillings and six pence yearly”.
They were destroyed as vermin and believe it or not, for their fur, to make gloves, flying jackets,trousers or coats. A good waistcoat would need over 100 skins. A firm in Wisbech called Horace Friend and Son continued to trade in moleskins up until the early 1980s.
Years ago I used to see numerous dead moles tied to a rope and hung from it in certain parts of the countryside. I never saw the sense in that myself as a youngster.
And the older of you may remember the song by the Southlanders, ” I am a mole and I live in a hole” !!
Refs: besides my own observations and experiences;
Lovegrove, R (2007) ” Silent Fields- the long decline of a nation’s wildlife”, Oxford University Press, Oxford.
www.mammal.org.uk
The moles are killed by mad summer cyclist. Especially cyclists called george as he has particularly noticed this phenomenom. Karen
Ha! Well done Detective Hodgkins! Cheers George
They were probably forced out due to flodding and then starved, or…it could be the males forcing each other out in the Spring while fighting over females?
They all looked fit and healthy specimens (though dead!) with the 2 puncture marks and some of them were quite fresh. Something made them leave their tunnels so your reasoning may be right!
soooo – whats the answer – howd those moles die? and how can i replicate that death in my lawn:)?
Aw! Make your lawn into a wildflower one! I suspect weasels or stoats killed them.
Hi well stoat’y does indeed dig for moles and so accurately to be sure i have seen quite a few doing it and they are a great help in finding mole motor ways often shared by many moles cheers Michael
Must have a super keen sense of smell eh? Cheers George
I was interested to see the reference to Horace Friend, furriers, buying moleskins up to the ’80s, and based at Wisbech. I remember at the age of about 10 in the late 40s early 50s I used to trap moles, and send their skins to Horace Friend, although I believe then they were then based in Holborn, London. I seemed to remember that they then paid between 4 and 6 old pence per skin dependant upon quality and size. (They also bought Starling wings at I beleive 3d per pair!) I once caught a weasel in a mole trap, which I was able to release, alive, so clearly they do hunt moles in the latter’s underground tunnels
Well Mike a few things. Thanks for your comments making my story more interesting and its nice to hear about the ‘old’ money again! Cheers, George
why wouldn’t the pretodr come back for the kill?
Good question! I am aware that weasels/stoats have quite large areas which in which they seek prey. If they abandon a kill for whatever reason they carry on in their search for fresh food. I am not aware that they will scavenge an old kill or carrion. They have a fast metabolism and move quickly. Perhaps they simply move on to find fresh prey, sitting around waiting to feast on a fresh kill may not be their style after a period of time? Perhaps it depends upon why they left the kill where it was? Foxes are known to kill prey over and above what they actually require, such as inside a chicken coup. Perhaps they kill to show a youngster how to do it, or to keep their hunting skills honed? Who knows? If you get the time, have a search around the internet and perhaps you could get back to me with an answer? Cheers, George
Cats kill moles does and so do dogs . They may pack them around for a while or play with them, but they do not eat them. A weasel will eat them fresh or rotten. I have personally seen a family of your Weasles eating dead moles that had been dead for a month. They were stinky rotten. I filmed them eating. They did
not pay any attention to me, even though I was within two feet of them.
They were very Bold little fellows
Wow. Not a very common site eh? Thanks for sharing, George NN
Could it not just be a molecatcher? As I have a friend that does it and when he catches them (obviously dead in a trap) then he discards the bodies for foxes to eat … Sounds like a viable reason for so many close to each other!
hmm. But why kill them on an old waste land area and put two puncture holes in their necks? G
Hmmm good point, it could be piece work as when they get paid per mole on farms as they catch them they string them up in the barbed wire so the farmer knows how many have been caught and what to pay! Like I said just speculating and could explain the puncture marks as I guess they dispose the bodies after they’ve been paid and where better than wasteland to be picked up by larger animals and back into the food chain … not nearly as interesting as mad cyclist rampages 😂
Hi Tracy, this is next an active tip and there is no farmland nearby to speak of….cheers, george
To get moles to leave your lawn or property just put up small windmills. They can’t stand the vibes and they move on to happier worm hunting grounds lol.
Found a mole on top of my closed green wheelie bin this morning.,a somewhat gruesome discovery as it was not mutilated. What put it there some feet of the ground ?
A little help from a cat or human?
I walk my dogs a path that circles a fallow meadowin central Pennsylvania here in the Stares. We regularly find healthy looking, other than being dead, moles along the path by the stream at the bottom of the meadow. In winter I find mole tunnles through the snow. I understand finding frozen moles on cold mornings, but we find them year round. I understand after heavy rains they may have drowned, but on good weather days, I have no plausible reason. There are fox in the meadow, but why would they leave uneaten carcasses? I’ve searched the web, but aside from your post all the search results are about ridding your yard or garden of moles. Never a good answer for why I find them on the path. The population in the meadow is very healthy.
Good question Robert, I think one thing is that they may be distasteful? When I get more time I may research this! Cheers, George
I regularly find dead Moles in my garden, but recently found one that looked as if it had been swallowed whole and then bought back up again. (Lovely) This may add to your thoughts about not being edible. I have seen a couple of Stoats, so they may be doing the killing, but obviously not big enough to swallow a Mole. Just wish they would get a liking for Rabbit.
Well Richard from numerous press releases and academic papers, it now appears that wild rabbits are in decline from a new disease ‘rabbit haemorrhagic disease virus’ that is even more deadly to wild and pet rabbits than Myxomatosis
When walking yesterday on a disused railway line we found about ten dead moles within half a mile of track, at the side of the footpath. I didn’t look closely to see if any puncture wounds, but all looked whole. Could it be down to the extreme dry weather we have had recently.
Difficult to say Vicky, that could well be the reason perhaps? Cheers George
Three things about moles: I had a mole catcher to get rid of moles that were ruining my lawn. On one visit he showed me a weasel that had been caught in one of his traps. So they must go down tunnels to catch them. He was quite upset about this.
I recently watered (stored rain water) around a plum tree and the next morning I found a pattern of humps formed by moles in the moist ground.
This morning my dog found a complete dead mole in a field – bitten in the neck, but not very neat and a bloody nose. We do have weasels on our bit of land – my wife and I have seen a pair playing games on a millstone, popping up and down like meercats and chasing each other.
It looks like this dry weather has affected mammals that eat earthworms which go deeper into the soil to keep moist. When you watered the soil that would have helped worms move upwards and moles would then seek them out. Thanks for sharing cheers George
(Sadly for me) my dog hunts moles and rats! When he catches one he “dispatches” it with one quick shake. Dead. And then dropped bcz no longer interesting! (He gets better tasting food at home??) he just wants the “fun”??
I’ve seen a website which tells you how to TRAIN your dog to do this… maybe that’s what is happening to those little moles? Perhaps (& – I’m hoping) this method of death for moles is less painful and cruel than TRAPS and chemicals!!
Interesting theory Georgie. Thanks for sharing. Cheers George
I’ve just found a dead mole in my garden very near an area where I had been digging this morning. I came across some mole runs and my digging destroyed them, but there was no sign of the actual Mole. We live in a very rural area, pasture fields on either side, we have seen foxes, stoats, badgers and rats in the garden and overhead kestrels, buzzards and Sparrow Hawks all these on a regular basis.
This mole seemed to be unmarked – I hadn’t read your comments about the ‘neat puncture marks’ before I found the mole, so I didn’t take particular notice, however I did look closely and didn’t see any signs of injury.
The dead animal was on the grass, on its back. We have seen a stoat in that area and we once saw a stoat that had caught a rabbit by its neck, the rabbit was squealing but the stoat hung on until we disturbed it when we went out to investigate the noise, I must say the stoat seemed determined – half the size of the rabbit we were almost upon it before it finally let go of its prey and ran off in disgust.
I felt quite upset when I found the poor dead mole, I’ve never seen one before “in the flesh” – although its activities in my garden are infuriating when I find precious plants with their roots dangling in mid air, or mid tunnel, and half dead because there was no soil around the roots.
I’m glad I found your web-site it came up when I searched for ‘Mole predators’ it is an excellent sourse of information.
Thank you for your kind comments Miss Robinson. Cheers, George
Was this ever solved? I just found HALF of a dead mole, also with one or two tiny little puncture marks near his “neck”. He was dry and healthy looking as well — minus the fact that the bottom half of him (beneath his paws) was missing. It looked almost surgical. Two weeks ago I found a squirrel tail (just the tail) in the exact same spot, just 2-3 feet over. Then today, I just found ANOTHER squirrel tail, in the exact same spot. Again, seemed to be removed with surgical precision. There are no trees above the area where I keep finding these animal parts so if it’s a hawk doing this, that still doesn’t answer the question why they are in the exact same spot….? Any ideas?? P.S. I live in Charleston, South Carolina.
Sorry Susanna, not aware of N. American wildlife species and mode of predation. Thanks, George
Very interesting. We have recently been finding a number of dead moles in our fields, on our mown paths as you describe. Will have to look for puncture holes next time (although one body was decapitated). Unlike the locations of your finds, our fields don’t appear to have been used for anything other than pasture sine they were set up in 1793, the paths are probably only walked (by us) two to four times a week, and our pets (= cats) don’t go too far into the fields (‘fear of buzzards’!). I suspected that the headless one was a secondary discovery by a fox, but couldn’t work out why we were getting so many dead moles just on the paths. I do suspect we have stoats and possibly weasels (we definitely have polecat) , so this description would fit. Don’t think it would be regular enough an occurrence to set up a camera trap there, but thank you for what I think is probably a very strong probability!
Hi Dr Caley, yes I did find it an interesting exercise. Natural is full of surprises as well. Thanks, George
The reason is that moles taste terrible.
Hm! You could be right Justin. Cheers, George
A couple years ago I employed a gardener to rid my lawns of a plague of moles.
On his second visit he showed me a dead weasel that he had caught in one of his mole traps.
He was quite upset about this as he felt that the weasels were on his side. I know we have weasels in our gardens as we have seen them playing, standing up and chasing each other
rather like meercats.
This made me think of my cat that likes to suck the blood from little animals. She bites them on the head, then “sucks” or chews while the blood flows.
Question: are all the puncture marks the same distance from each other? Are they on the exact same location on each mole? Where any percentage of them missing one or both the punctures? Did any of them have 2 sets? Etc.
Hi Judy, I did not examine the dead moles in detail. Sorry, Cheers, George
We have just found three dead moles above ground in the last three days. Plenty of molehills here and I dont think the ground would be very dry at this time of the year. Not seen this before, have lived here on the Norfolk/Suffolk border for two years. The moles did not appear to be injured – very strange!
Could be young moles leaving their nest… and become disorientated? Cheers George
Mmmm, so interesting! So what would be your conclusion? I might think, that this might actually be result of the deadly fights among the moles themselves.
It is relativelly new concept for me, but it just is something I realized today (and thats how I found this story), that moles are actually unusually aggresive towards their own kind. The degree is of such magnitude, that moe females did evolve special adaptation, that they have not only ovaries, but also functional testes. Those testes do not produce sperm, but they do produce the full level of testosteron in order to give them aggresivity boost for inter-mole fights.
It was just this week reported in prestigious journal Science. (It is called adaptive intersexuality, yet it does not seem to result in queer sexual behavior of moles :-D, it has rather the consequences in their deadly fights.
It is intriguing to think, that in some season, maybe sommer, the teritories of moles starts to overlap and the moles fight it out to the death – leaving the lose executed on the spot … like in this old video:
https://youtu.be/LSbucem5fTk
There is so much to learn about wildlife that our time on this earth is simply not long enough! Great film, thanks for your comments and the link Petr. Cheers, George
I have regularly over the years observed my cats kill moles, rats, voles and shrews and not eat them. They do eat mice when they catch them but regularly leave their heads and some innards. They eat chipmunks and do leave the tails. sometimes they leave the feet of these small animals they kill. It seems like they don’t like the taste of voles, moles, rats and shrews but can’t resist the predation instinct to stalk and kill them. It’s fine with me! I bet it’s a feral cat that’s causing your mystery of the dead moles.
Well Marilyn, you may well be right.Thanks for your suggestion. Cheers, George NN
I have seen a vixen catching moles (but not eating them or carrying them off) in the field next to my home. I’m on the edge of the moors a few miles up river from Halifax, Yorks.
Could be just honing its hunting skills Sam Cheers George
Today I saw a dead mole at the side of a track near some woodland at the edge of the Solway Firth. It was near some houses but none of them had gardens that might provoke poisoning. I didn’t check for puncture wounds and it didn’t look like it had been run over by a car or cyclist.
I was told by a farmer in the Yorkshire Dales that the reason they trapped moles was that a sheep can put a foot down their holes and break their legs.
Who knows why it died Graham. Hunger, thirst, old age, disease. Thanks for sharing, Cheers George NN
So, this is not a proper explanation for the phenomenon, but there is a Latvian folk tale that focuses around this mystery.
The most common version goes that God ordered every animals to build a footpath. However, the mole refused because why it needs a path if it can move underground? The God got angry at the mole and punished it, so if the mole dares to cross the footpath, it will die. And that’s why you see dead moles near the footpath.
Other versions include moles EXPLODING when they cross the road (probably referencing the roadkill), or freezing on the spot until a human sees it (a fate shared with snakes). Which usually means that by that time it will die via other means, or won’t have enough time to move out of the way if a human rides something.
Just thought it was interesting to share.
Thank you for sharing that Cynthia. Best Regards, George
I don’t have an answer, but we have been seeing voles along footpaths here in southcentral Pennsylvania USA. Today, I found a white-footed mouse on my driveway. It looks like it paused in its travels. Perfect whiskers, feet, body, and tail. There’s a bit of blood, but it’s not clear where any puncture marks are. I’m hoping a scavenger comes along to get it. I have hawks nearby or maybe an owl grabbed it and then was startled away.
Yes Beth, sometimes you see dead mammals on the ground and no physical signs of death. Of course, it could have been one of many different reasons, too hot, too cold, thirst, internal disease, or it simply died.