# Moles in the day anyone?



## Spider Call (Mar 23, 2007)

On Monday I was in the car with my father and a friend, we were driving down a narrow country lane when we spotted something moving franticly in the road. Luckily we were able to drive over it without hitting it and stopped a few metres down.
Without even bothering to check where we were stopped I lept out in to some bushes and made my way back towards it.

When I reached the animal I found it was a mole laying on its back in a puddle of water, completely soaked with its fur stuck messily to its skin.
I called back to the car for someone to bring me something to pick the poor little thing up with, and managed to turn him over and get him on to an L plate without being bitten. 

After taking a couple of pictures on my phone we moved him to the undergrowth and turned him round and watched him dig back in to the verge. Below where we put him you could see where he had dug out, and where the heavy rain had washed him (and a load of dirt) down in to the centre of the road.

Just wondering if anyone else has come across a littun coming out when it is still light?

Anyway here are a couple of photos:

























So glad that we took a wrong turn that night, a few minutes later we met a car. And he could have so easily been squashed.
Luck or fate? You decide C:

-Emma


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## Breadrun (Mar 1, 2007)

great pictures, I've seen a couple of moles in the daylight before but the majority has been when the cats have brought them in so its usually not a happy ending, theres always loads of molehills near where i live - interesting little critters


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## Spider Call (Mar 23, 2007)

I have only ever seen one other mole in my life, but he was dead  So being a 4 year old he came home and lived in my freezer for a few years  Next to my hamster <3


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## Breadrun (Mar 1, 2007)

Spider Call said:


> I have only ever seen one other mole in my life, but he was dead  So being a 4 year old he came home and lived in my freezer for a few years  Next to my hamster <3


Thats just wrong - have you moved up to humans yet.......seems to be the route you may take :whistling2:


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## Spider Call (Mar 23, 2007)

Is not wrong. When I asked people if they wanted to see my hamster I got her out for them to see ^_^ 
Had a blackbird I picked up somewhere too <_< And a slow worm... and a harvest mouse XD I was a nice child C:

And not yet


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## Marinam2 (Sep 4, 2007)

Yes i stayed with my aunty and had the priviledge of seeing one looking out from the top of his hill looking very proud.

I also rescused one two years ago from two cats that had conered one on the road next to the curb. I managed to tuck it up in my jumper and move it to softer ground and stood guard till it was safe!

They are beautiful little critters.


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## eddygecko (Feb 14, 2007)

Spider Call said:


> Is not wrong. When I asked people if they wanted to see my hamster I got her out for them to see ^_^
> Had a blackbird I picked up somewhere too <_< And a slow worm... and a harvest mouse XD I was a nice child C:
> 
> And not yet


 Ha ha thats brilliant.
I saw a mole in broad daylight on the playing fields a few weeks ago when it was really hot. Loads of kids being picked up from school and parents with dogs and it was just wandereing around on the grass. Managed to somewhat herd it into the undergrowth and hopefully it managed to get back underground. Other than that i've only seen bits of them whilst walking the dog or whole dead ones in the road. Lovely.


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## Spider Call (Mar 23, 2007)

Marinam2 said:


> Yes i stayed with my aunty and had the priviledge of seeing one looking out from the top of his hill looking very proud.
> 
> I also rescused one two years ago from two cats that had conered one on the road next to the curb. I managed to tuck it up in my jumper and move it to softer ground and stood guard till it was safe!
> 
> They are beautiful little critters.


Aww, I'm glad you managed to save one from the cats C:
Wouldn't of liked this one in my jumper thats for sure xD Was hard enough moving him a little way without having my fingers nommed on!




eddygecko said:


> Ha ha thats brilliant.
> I saw a mole in broad daylight on the playing fields a few weeks ago when it was really hot. Loads of kids being picked up from school and parents with dogs and it was just wandereing around on the grass. Managed to somewhat herd it into the undergrowth and hopefully it managed to get back underground. Other than that i've only seen bits of them whilst walking the dog or whole dead ones in the road. Lovely.


Hehe  People used to say they wouldn't go in the freezer because they never knew what they would find.
Seems like they are coming out in the day a lot more now :/ Weird.


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## Marinam2 (Sep 4, 2007)

I took the jumper off first ROFL!!!!


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## Spider Call (Mar 23, 2007)

I gathered that 
Was thinking more of its nice teeth biting through it XD
My general thing with wild things is, get someone else to pick it up if it's injured  If it doesn't bite then take it <_< 
Unless I'm alone... Then I have to find out on my own. 
Hence turning this mole over with it's back end while it tried to bite me.


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## Stelios (Aug 28, 2009)

When I lived in a boarding school in Berkshire, there were numerous farms and estates who used to hang dead moles on the barbed wire fences. Still don't know why they did it.


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## Spider Call (Mar 23, 2007)

Poor little things


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## Natrix (Dec 9, 2006)

Spider Call said:


> On Monday I was in the car with my father and a friend, we were driving down a narrow country lane when we spotted something moving franticly in the road. Luckily we were able to drive over it without hitting it and stopped a few metres down.
> Without even bothering to check where we were stopped I lept out in to some bushes and made my way back towards it.
> 
> When I reached the animal I found it was a mole laying on its back in a puddle of water, completely soaked with its fur stuck messily to its skin.
> ...


We often see them in the garden and on the roads around here at this time of year. Durring June, July and August mother moles kick out the previous semi adult youngsters to make room for the next litter. Your little guy was looking for a new terratory.

Natrix


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## MissCat (Mar 9, 2009)

Stelios said:


> When I lived in a boarding school in Berkshire, there were numerous farms and estates who used to hang dead moles on the barbed wire fences. Still don't know why they did it.


No idea why but the farm next door to where I grew up also used to hang squirrels up.


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## bobby (Sep 26, 2006)

They really are butt ugly :lol2:

I seen one that a cat had gotten the other day, poor thing was still alive even though it insides were all over the grass....


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## tokay (Mar 13, 2007)

Stelios said:


> When I lived in a boarding school in Berkshire, there were numerous farms and estates who used to hang dead moles on the barbed wire fences.* Still don't know why they did it*.


probly because there ********...


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## Woodsman (Aug 12, 2008)

Stelios said:


> When I lived in a boarding school in Berkshire, there were numerous farms and estates who used to hang dead moles on the barbed wire fences. Still don't know why they did it.


This was the old fashioned mole catchers way of showing the landowner who employed him that the job was being done.

Gamekeepers used to(probably still do) hang up crows,Stoats and anything they shot or trapped which was considered vermin.
This served 2 purposes,firstly as above,it showed they were doing their job.Secondly the rotting carcases provided food in the form of maggots for the Pheasants.


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## xvickyx (Jul 21, 2009)

Awwww that's so cute


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## bobby (Sep 26, 2006)

Woodsman said:


> This was the old fashioned mole catchers way of showing the landowner who employed him that the job was being done.
> 
> Gamekeepers used to(probably still do) hang up crows,Stoats and anything they shot or trapped which was considered vermin.
> This served 2 purposes,firstly as above,it showed they were doing their job.Secondly the rotting carcases provided food in the form of maggots for the Pheasants.


Is it true they do it with foxes to scare off other foxes?

I got told that as a kid, pretty sure a fox isn't clever enough to work out that's a warning though :hmm:


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## Woodsman (Aug 12, 2008)

bobby said:


> Is it true they do it with foxes to scare off other foxes?
> 
> I got told that as a kid, pretty sure a fox isn't clever enough to work out that's a warning though :hmm:


I've not seen or heard of this before.Could be as above a professional pest catcher showing his handiwork.
As for scaring off other foxes,I would have thought this would provide meals for them rather than scare them off.


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## bobby (Sep 26, 2006)

Woodsman said:


> I've not seen or heard of this before.Could be as above a professional pest catcher showing his handiwork.
> As for scaring off other foxes,I would have thought this would provide meals for them rather than scare them off.


I knew that was an old wives tale :whip:


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## KTedham (Feb 11, 2009)

I once saw one while on a walk in the county on a nice sunny day. It was ambling about on top of some short grass next to some molehills. I was quite young at the time and out of curiosity, I gently stroked it's back which it didn't seem to mind in the slightest. It felt very soft and silky. ^^ 
I then left it to it as it didn't seem hurt or in distress of any kind.


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## KTedham (Feb 11, 2009)

Sadly, I also experienced the horror of the gamekeepers 'trophies' where I grew up. The walks in the summer always had the poor little moles strung up along the fences of the fields. I once saw rabbits strung up in a tree too.
It's a horrid practice and completely pointless as far as I can see. If they want to prove the job is done, they could take them to their employer and if it's for feeding the pheasants with maggots, there must be other ways.


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