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Molewatch

Molewatch

The People's Trust for Endangered Species (PTES). the British Hedgehog Preservation Society and Dr Paul Bright (Royal Holloway) have been studying the hedgehog population to see how it is coping with changes in farming practices, urban developments etc. The general conclusion is that the numbers of this mammal are declining – see the woodland blog.

The mole, like the hedgehog, is insectivorous and there is concern about its numbers. It is thought to be one of the most common wildlife mammals in the UK, but we do not really know how many there are, nor where they are!

Have you seen a mole? - not many people have but most of us have seen a molehill at some time or another. A molehill is a reliable indicator of the presence of a mole(s) in an area. You could help build a picture of the UK mole population by reporting sightings of molehills.

Molewatch (organised by PTES and the Mammals Trust UK) would like information about molehills in our gardens, local parks, fields so that they can build a picture / distribution map of moles across the UK. If you would like to help, visit http://www.molewatch.org.uk/ and register. To see the picture that is developing, have a look at the map so far : http://www.molewatch.org.uk/

Note : molewatch.org.uk seems to have disappeared since this was written in 2008.


Hedgehog fact sheet available here

See also blogs about hedgehogs in adjacent related posts.

 


Comments are closed for this post.

Discussion

Curious.
Golden moles are said to be endemic to sub Saharan Africa : https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Golden_mole

Blogs

23 June, 2023

Hello,

I saw a golden mole today. It was on the edge of a little road quite rural.
I stopped the car and my husband ushered it back into the shrub.
Is this a rare sighting ?
I’m in the Test Valley, Andover, Hampshire Sp10

Sara Jane Hysted

23 June, 2023

You could try a search on google scholar, but a quick search did not reveal much ……

https://www.sciencedirect.com/science/article/abs/pii/S0021997518302251

Blogs

20 June, 2023

Moles seem to have disappeared from two areas in Banham , is there a virus or some other reason ?

Chris waller

19 June, 2023

More about rat traps, please visit http://www.rattraps.org

An

15 November, 2014

Please email me any follow-up comments. Thank you.

Malcolm Landau

13 May, 2009

Hedgehogs visit my garden in North Somerset regularly. Sometimes they get caught in my live rat traps! I think a mole has now starting visiting, since in the last few days, and for the first time in over twenty years, I have observed narrow strips in the lawn, like burrows close to the surface, comimg out from my hedgerow.

Malcolm Landau

13 May, 2009