Title: Voles and moles in the lawn  • GreenView
Headings: Voles and Moles in the Lawn
Voles and Moles in the Lawn
How to get rid of these destructive furry varmints
Identifying the culprit
How to control moles
How to control voles

Content: Moles are insectivores, and their primary diet is earthworms with a few grubs and insects tossed in as appetizers. They don’t eat plants, and so their landscape carnage is really the incidental damage of tunnels and runways dug in lawns while on the never-ending search for more worms. Voles, on the other hand, are plant-eaters. They feed on grass and perennial-flower roots, they’ll eat seeds and bulbs, and especially in winter when other foods are scarce, they’ll even girdle the bark off trees and shrubs. Meadow voles also make networks of surface tunnels across the lawn under the snow cover of winter when they venture out into open spaces that they’d avoid in the growing season. With the help of a little grass seed and/or patience, this damage is fairly easy to fix. Moles are seldom seen because they live and feed underground. They’re gray to dark brown in color, about 6 to 7 inches long and most distinguishable by their long noses and paddled, webbed front feet – perfect for tunnel excavation. They have no visible ears either. Those paddled front paws allow moles to dig tunnels at a rate of 1 foot per minute.