While I admired our yard’s continuation of spring thaw actions, I noticed a lovely stream that appeared in our backyard.
Except, up close, not so lovely.
Dirty colored and rather bumpy looking is more like it. Ewe…gross. Definitely not glistening like a peaceful river. Later on in the day, it widened and looked worse.
Dang…looks like potential damage to the yard. Mostly, hopefully, just on the surface, though. Right?!
Vole, or Field Mice, or Meadow Mice, as they are called, are usually classified as a pest species because the dig up yards and set up a network of surface tunnels.
WTH is that? Is it a huge vole’s nest? Nope, it’s a bee’s nest. Wow, do voles eat bees, too?
The thawing and melting of the snow into streams isn’t from water rushing after all.
It’s grass clumps and leaves and lots of vole nests. Sigh…
Voles primarily eat roots and bulbs. Their tunnels and burrows will span through an entire yard, but are virtually unseen by the innocent homeowner.
Oh, MY.
Yikes.
If you have suddenly noticed your plants and shrubs dying off with no evidence of an intruder, chances are you have a vole problem.
In the fall, I had noticed some holes in my garden beds. I didn’t see any of my Tiger Lily bulbs in the grassy mix that’s appeared here, yet that is…
Voles come into their sexual maturity in as little time as a month and their gestation period only lasts for 3 weeks. This makes a vole likely to have anywhere between 6-10 liters of young per year and if you can do the math that means you could have a big vole problem very quickly. –
Upon closer look, it appears a colony, not just a small family of voles had not minded living under the 4-foot drift of snow we got in February. Not one bit.
They simply carried on and built their highway throughout the yard.
We’ve seen paths like this before, but never foot wide river of paths. On Saturday, I actually saw one of those pesky pests peeking out of this nest. I thought he was kind of cute. Not any more.
I can imagine herds of them running back and forth on the paths under the snow. From the field, by my gardens and back and forth, back and forth, back and forth. They were busy, busy, busy.
Remember how deep the snow was? How did they know where to go?
Do you think they woke up the day of the first deep snow, saw all darkness, and cheerfully said, “We’re not in Kansas anymore – heck no, I think we’re in Alaska – let’s get busy and burrow our way back to Wisconsin?”
On a much brighter note, more of the yard is free of snow. Copper’s happy about that.
And Mr. set out our lawn furniture in the front seating area. The pop of color makes me smile. I sure hope my garden bed flowers survived the winter so I can see more pops of colors!
All quotes are direct references from this very informative website.
PS – Any words of wisdom about voles? It is darn fascinating how they built and survived under 4 feet of snow. But still, if they eat bulbs, I’m not going to be a happy camper.
I’ve given up on tulips…they get eaten every year before we see the blooms. 🙁 And our dog will bury himself to the shoulders digging in my garden if I don’t watch him…a sure sign of “life below the surface.” I’m hoping we don’t have a big problem this year, but we fight them every year in varying degrees. The only downside of the snow melting. Ha!
Man…can we catch any breaks? Do you have any perennials that survive? I have a bleeding heart that seems to, and I thought my tiger lillies would, but we’ll see. Irises seem to make it. Copper, thankfully, doesn’t dig, he just sniffs everywhere. I’m keeping my fingers crossed for both of us. We deserve to see some colorful flower blooms!
I have good luck with deer resistant plants – daffodils, irises go gangbusters and a few others I’ve tried. But most of my plants need a good dose of stink-um on a regular basis. 🙂 And the chipmunks are just evil.
Thanks for the tips. I have lots of Irises, and one (at least I hope so) daffodil. I guess I’ll have to wait and see what survives. Stink-um…ummm…I’ll have to look into that! Yes, chipmunks are evil. I have those too.
Those voles could turn into a Hitchcock movie. More and more of them taking up residence under your yard. I hope they don’t munch away at all your plantings!
Traps and poison. Be darn sure Copper stays clear. Is nice to see the snow gone! 😎❤️
Yikes! I’m hoping they move on and find more food in the field of corn than they do in my gardens. We’d go broke trying to poison them. Yes, it’s wonderful to see the snow disappearing!
Deer eat our tulips, but voles make a mess of things in general. Sneaky little dudes. We used to have moles which is another one of those gardening nuisances, but at least you see their tunnels. Good luck.
Glad I’m not the only one feeding the wildlife. We have moles too. Somehow the predators need to step up and take charge. Thank you for the good luck wishes. I may take a stroll through the garden shop to see if I can find plants they won’t like?!
It’s great seeing the lawn furniture come out. We’ve been sitting outside with the dog – the ultimate sign of spring around our house.
Yes, it is. We’re looking forward to sitting in it and enjoying the sunshine. I bet Maddie is so excited too!
She is. She’s been sitting out on her cot whenever it’s warm an dry.
Aw, she’s a lucky gal!
That is one thing from the south that I miss – no voles or moles. Too much red clay. What I have learned to do here is put it all in containers. I do have a few daffodils they didn’t bother but I gave up on the tulips, evidently a favorite.
I bet red clay was an obstacle. I might just have to go to more containers. I have one daffodil that I planted late last spring after it bloomed in the pot. We’ll see if it survives. I haven’t had tulips in years. Come to think of it, they had suddenly disappeared. 🙁
from what I have read, voles really like those. may just be a coincidence.
We shall see, that’s for sure!
That wouldn’t make me happy either Shelley. Squirrels ate all my father’s tulip bulbs the first year we lived here – he never replaced them. What destructive little devils these voles are. I can’t say I’ve ever seen them, but I have a mound of dirt on the City property. The grass grows on it, but it is sparse.,. Fingers crossed the voles don’t get your flowers!
Thanks, Linda. Once the river dries out, I’m going to put on a mask and rake it and toss it out in the field far away. Hopefully they’ll follow the scent somewhere else. I’m on high alert now for the dang critters. Grr…
The critters tend to spoil things for us sometimes – I have never forgiven the neighbors behind for what their rats did to my backyard. I gave up birdfeeders, birdbaths and I’d go out in the yard and see birds lined up along the fence waiting for food and water. But it was more than that – the expense of a pest control service and seeing dead rats in the yard from eating the poison … no words.
Yikes – glad that situation is over. Sad for the birds, though.
Yes it is.