3/23/2006

Daily Post (Liverpool, England)

By Andrew Forgrave

Farmers in North Wales are bracing themselves for an invasion of moles.

Numbers are set to soar next winter after the EC banned the use of strychnine hydrochloride from September 1: the poison has been used for more than 50 years to kill the tiny tunnellers.

Rural pest controllers fear they will be thrown out of work while farmers are worried that molehills will damage machinery and spoil silage.

"It looks pretty bleak," said Mark Bevan, 40, who runs MB Pest Control from Bodfari, Denbigh. "Mole control for farmers accounts for 60% of my work and the strychnine ban could mean the end of my business."

Mole catchers say alternative control methods, such as trapping or gassing, are either too labor-intensive, expensive or ineffective.

They say many farmers will have to learn to live with more molehills, despite concerns that listeria will flourish in silage and hay due to an increase in mole droppings. The disease is fatal to sheep and cattle.

Mold dairy farmer John Bletcher, NFU Cymru's milk committee chairman, said silage contamination was a constant fear.

"Just a small patch of earth can cause a disproportionate amount of contamination," he said. "We trap on our farm but it's very time-consuming. The strychnine ban could be a real problem."

Mole numbers increased significantly after the 2001 foot-and-mouth epidemic when contractors couldn't get on the land, while the following year strychnine was in short supply. Warmer winters have also helped swell mole populations and the almost-blind pest is now a major nuisance on upland sheep farms.

Golf course owners are also alarmed, while council park bosses fear they could be sued by people hit by stones thrown up by mowers.

Abergele mole catcher Phil Morris, 44, said he was busier than ever.

On a typical 200-acre farm he typically catches 30 moles but recently he trapped 197 moles in two weeks.

He said: "I have 30 farmers booked in and I'm having to turn others away, though I'll keep working until the grass grows too high.

"I tend to use strychnine on farms because trapping is too labor-intensive and you can't trap when there's livestock on the land. When the ban comes in I'll probably go back to trapping but I won't be able to catch as many moles."

Mr Bevan said trapping was effective but strychnine poison was 20 times more efficient. He added: "In the past I've experimented with phosphine gas and - before it was banned - cyanide gas. But they didn't work very well - perhaps because moles back-filled tunnels.

"The biggest landowner on my books has 1,800 acres and I have killed up to 3,000 moles there. There's no way you can do that with trapping."

Suppliers of earthworms which are baited with strychnine by mole catchers are also expected to suffer.

Retired farmer and mole-catcher Owen Ellis Williams, who used traps on his 250-acre Bylchau farm on the Denbigh moors, said farmers were now too busy.

He said: "There used to be four or five mole catchers in every area. These days youngsters are not interested, partly because it's too time-consuming, but also because of other factors: for example, if you want to catch moles, you can't wash your hands with scented soap!"

Going underground

Moles can dig 20 yards of tunnel in a day, before resting in grass-lined chambers.

They can eat up to a third of their bodyweight each day, storing live earthworms in tunnels after biting off their heads.

Alternative controls are available such as ultrasonic devices but vibration from a children's plastic windmill pushed into mole runs may be just as effective.

Chemical repellents such as creosote, diesel oil and disinfectants have not been approved for use against moles.