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Mole or vole in the lawn

Updated: 23 October 2026

A wet morning, fresh soil, or spongy turf leaves you asking whether you have a mole or vole in the lawn. Before you push a vibrating stake into the grass, you need to know which animal made the mess. A garden molehill, a shallow vole run, and a burrow in a waterside bank call for different decisions. Many listings on the [solar vole repellent comparison](/hub/pest-control/solar-vole-repellent) bundle moles, voles, gophers, groundhogs, and armadillos into one headline, even though those American species do not live in British gardens. Match the soil, the plant damage, and the location to the UK animal before you look at a deterrent or leave the bank alone.

A wet morning, fresh soil, or spongy turf leaves you asking whether you have a mole or vole in the lawn. Before you push a vibrating stake into the grass, you need to know which animal made the mess.

Our top picks

Nitoer Nitoer S40 4-pack

Best overall

Nitoer Nitoer S40 4-pack
8.1/10about £19.90
View offer
NIKAND NIKAND R_4 4-pack

Best value

NIKAND NIKAND R_4 4-pack
7.3/10about £33.96
View offer
BURMONG BURMONG PTMR 2-pack

Alternative

BURMONG BURMONG PTMR 2-pack
6.5/10about £13.99
View offer
On this page
  1. 1.A molehill
  2. 2.A field vole or a bank vole
  3. 3.A water vole
  4. 4.What the protection does not cover
  5. 5.If you are still unsure

A molehill

A classic molehill is a neat, rounded cone of fresh soil from a deep tunnel, with no open hole in the middle. The European mole (Talpa europaea) hunts earthworms and soil grubs, so grass-root damage is incidental as the tunnel settles. The Royal Horticultural Society says twenty hills are often one territorial mole, with most surface activity in late winter and early spring. Worm casts are coils about the size of a two-pound coin. A rabbit scrape leaves an open hole with soil kicked aside. Imported Amazon diagrams often show a North American pocket gopher in an open mound. That is not a British mole.

A field vole or a bank vole

Spongy grass, nibbled bulbs, or bark gnawed at a young fruit tree point to a field vole (Microtus agrestis), a bank vole (Myodes glareolus), or a wood mouse. They leave tooth marks a mole never makes, in runs that give way under your boot. The RHS notes that small heaps on a soft lawn can be voles just under the surface. A vole heap is lower than a steep molehill and sits beside a small hole. Check the bulbs before you blame a mole.
Nitoer Nitoer S40 4-pack

Testsieger

Nitoer Nitoer S40 4-pack
8.1/10about £19.90
View offer

A water vole

Holes in the bank of a pond, ditch, stream, or canal are a wildlife question. Water voles use those burrows, often with clipped stems at the edge. Do not push a stake in or test the tunnel. Under the Wildlife and Countryside Act 1981, GOV.UK and Natural Resources Wales state that in England and Wales it is an offence to intentionally kill, injure, or take a water vole, or to intentionally or recklessly damage its shelter, disturb it there, or block access. In Scotland, NatureScot states the offence as damaging, obstructing, or disturbing a water vole in a place of shelter.

What the protection does not cover

Field voles and bank voles in a dry border do not share water-vole protection. Northern Ireland has no native mole, so heaps in Belfast, Derry, or County Down are voles, mice, or rats. The RHS notes that a stake may only move moles elsewhere. For a dry lawn in England, Scotland, or Wales, the solar vole repellent buying guide sets out what the box claims mean.

If you are still unsure

If rain has flattened a heap, pause. A stake is the wrong step within a few metres of a ditch, pond, or stream. On a dry lawn away from water, rake one heap flat and wait forty-eight hours. A fresh cone is the mole again. If you already own a stake, read how to use a solar vole repellent before the pilot hole. If the hills keep coming, solar vole repellent versus traps sets out the legal difference. Leave a suspected water-vole bank alone.

Common questions

The heaps are round and there is no hole in the top. Is that a mole?
Yes. A neat, rounded cone of fresh soil with no open entrance hole in the top is the classic sign of a European mole (Talpa europaea) in England, Scotland, or Wales. The mole pushes excavated soil up through a vertical shaft and plugs the route underneath, unlike a rabbit or rat, which leaves an open hole.
The lawn is soft and the heaps are small, and bulbs are gnawed. Is that a vole?
Yes. A spongy lawn combined with small surface heaps and gnawed bulbs, corms, or low bark points to a field vole or bank vole rather than a mole. Moles feed on earthworms and soil grubs, whereas voles eat plant material and tunnel just below the turf surface.
There are holes in the bank of a pond or ditch. Can I put a stake in?
No. You should not push a solar stake into or beside a bank with burrows near a pond, ditch, stream, or canal. Those holes may belong to a water vole, and it is an offence in England, Wales, and Scotland to damage, obstruct, or disturb a water vole in a place it uses for shelter.
Are field voles and bank voles protected in the same way as water voles?
No. Field voles (Microtus agrestis) and bank voles (Myodes glareolus) in a garden lawn or border do not share the legal protection given to water voles. If you cannot tell which species made a burrow near water, leave the bank undisturbed until you are certain.
Does one garden of hills mean many moles?
Not usually. According to the Royal Horticultural Society, moles are solitary, territorial animals, and a whole series of molehills across a garden lawn is often the work of a single mole extending its feeding tunnels, especially in late winter and early spring.
I am in Northern Ireland. Are these molehills?
No. The European mole is not native to Northern Ireland. If you find small mounds of soil or soft, collapsing runs in a lawn in Northern Ireland, the signs come from another animal such as a field vole, wood mouse, or rat rather than a mole.

Related pages

Solar vole repellent

Best solar mole repellent UK: the top picks compared

Solar mole repellent buying guide: what to check first

How to install a solar mole repeller in a UK garden

Mole trap or solar repeller: when a stake should stop

Sources

Public UK sources used for this comparison. Shelf prices, stars and review counts are the amazon.co.uk figures captured for these eleven listings. Last checked 19 October 2026.

  1. GOV.UK, foxes, moles and mink (retrieved 19 October 2026)
  2. RHS moles (retrieved 19 October 2026)
  3. RHS mice and voles (retrieved 19 October 2026)
  4. ASA pest repellents (retrieved 19 October 2026)
  5. GOV.UK water voles (retrieved 19 October 2026)
  6. NatureScot water voles (retrieved 19 October 2026)
  7. Lodi UK Racan manual RAC-1105 (retrieved 19 October 2026)
  8. Pest-Stop instructions (retrieved 19 October 2026)