Mysterious hole!

Oh my God no I didnt send my mysterious beast to you! Well obviously been reading up since my nocturnal visitor so lets do some detective work. 10" wide sounds too big for a rat but would be No.1 suspect. Rabbit?colour of fur grey? do you live close to fields?
Badger doubtful as prefer soft stem trees such as elder (apparently)
they tend to leave long hairs behind like those in old shaving brushes.Used to make them out of badger hair yuk! Knew there was a reason for growing a beard.
Fox again doubtful but both they and badgers will dig without necessarily moving in.
Muddy boots and Sid might suggest more exotic alternatives I got panther and puma when I asked.can you descibe colour of fur ?

it cud actually be a fox as it is the mating season. if the fur is grey, black or red i would say definitely a fox

Yes, the fur is greyish - so if this is a rat (UGH) or a fox trying to make him/herself at home (How dare it!) what should I do about eviction please? And yes, bonkers, we are very rural - fields across the lane and on two sides of the garden. HELP - I don't want rats OR foxes in my border! Henry sniffed around but didn't go mad like he does out on our walks. Strange.

IF it is a fox then she will have burrowed in for her cubs, nothing you can do untill they leave im afraid. if Henry annoys them enough she will move her cubs somewhere safer.

He is not usually allowed on my flower beds, but in this case, I shall encourage him to go there and try to scare them off!

lol i could send you my phone bills if henry doesnt worry her enough

Would you suggest stuffing them down the hole, Irish? Or maybe setting fire to them and THEN stuffing them down? (Nasty I am)...
;-O

lol ohhhhh dat is nasty alright

Rats tend not to leave fur behind and dont know about your foxes but we get the reddish brown variety. So think rabbit. Want to scare them off ?read them Watership Down better still try singing the title music to them remember Bright Eyes - scares most things. Oh and before you complain didnt you say something about a purple one eyed people eater to Ickledigga?

If it's a badger, I'm not sure you're allowed to do anything (and if it were me, I'd be out every night watching it in delight). I'm not sure whether the same applies to foxes.

It does look too big to be a rat, so I'm thinking rabbit. Invite a ferret keeper round?

I think it could be a badger (the hole is too wide to be a rabbit )I would not welcome badgers to my garden unlike 'ukslim' , they do an awful lot of damage once they start. So much rubbish is written about them, they are a nuisance especially to farmers ,carrying T.B. which is virtually endemic in them. When there was controlled culling T.B. almost disappeared , now it is on the increase, I speak from experience having contracted it.

badgers setts are usually bigger and deeper than this hole, with lots of other holes inside, doesnt look like a badgers sett. and aye killing badgers is now illegal.

Sorry to hear that Wyeboy.V.nasty illness but dont think you caught your strain from a badger.These animals have been terribly persecuted there are gangs who catch badgers break their legs and set their dogs on them videoing it and betting on the outcome.People were arrested in this area having travelled from the Midlands to undertake this sick pursuit.Yes farmers have had a really tough time of it but think they should address their own intensive methods CJD a case in point.No wouldnt want a badger set in my small garden but no objection to a visit . Think there are more likely culprits.But hey I even like moles.

lol bonkersbon, i agree with you that i wouldnt mind a visit from all this wildlife. living in a city here so dont get much visitors like that, usually the odd hedgehog.

Good info on badgers here:
http://www.badger.org.uk/content/Living.asp

It says a badger sett has a diameter of 250mm - which is pretty much bang on your 10". You didn't mention spoil - was there any?

The "Badgers in your garden" PDF has good advice, including ways to deter them if you decide you don't want them.

"There are claims that badgers carry disease and will infect
humans. This is only remotely possible if you were to be bitten by
an infectious badger, or if some reason you ingested faeces from
such a badger."

Of course if you have cows in your garden, you might worry about bovine TB ...

It isn't big enough for a Badgers' sett - and there's no spoil as there would be outside a sett - only the earth and stones piled up. We have many setts in the area, as we are so rural, and it's smaller than the ones around - doesn't look the same, either. Henry went and stuck his head down inside it this morning, he was quite interested. He started to scabble in the soil, too. I think that my next step is going to be B&Q Animal Repellent spray. A) because I want to evict the squatters. B) because I don't want Henry prancing all over my borders! Then, after a week or so, if there's no more obvious activity, I shall fill the hole in and keep my fingers crossed! There are cows over the fence - my neighbour wouldn't be happy if I told him we might have badgers so close!

I'm not sure what 'spoil' means in this context if it doesn't mean 'earth and stones piled up'.

But if it's not big enough, and you know what a sett looks like, then I guess we're back to the rabbit theory.

I had a summer job at a research farm (PBS, now IGER, in Penrhyncoch, near Aberystwyth) when I was at school. One day our job was digging a trench for a rabbit-proof fence. It was hard work!

Sorry - I thought that (re. spoil) apart from soils, stones etc you meant the badgers' charming toilet arrangements! The annoying thing is that the previous owners had put in mesh wherever there are fences, deep into the ground. I bet they thought it was hard work, too! We also have walls round part of the garden. UNFORTUNATELY I found a hole under the mesh behind some shrubs, blocked it up with big rocks as a temporary measure and then forgot about it. I guess if I climb up the bank and delve, the rocks will have moved. Ah me, another job for husband after he's cut the grass and mended the rose trellis (made of those large round fence posts and now falling apart - they were put in about 20 years ago). He will not be too happy at the lengthening list!

You could try spreading some sand around the entrance and see if any footprints appear - like in Bonker's pond?

I have to agree with Ukslim re badgers - I for one would be utterly delighted to see a badger in my garden and my heart sinks when people advocate culling these facinating and sociable animals. It would be a fairly predictable conclusion if we tried to wipe out every creature that causes a nuisance to somebody = no wildlife at all!!!!

Thanks Sid point I was trying to make you put it more eloquently. It seems such a shame that most of nature has learnt to mistrust us not without very good reason. Gas poison electrocute trap shoot .We have otters trying to establish and yes you guessed it the fishing -angling --community going nuts.

think this blog is turned into one about wildlife and destruction of it.... where i live it is amazing when we get to see a hawk or fox.. thousands of houses build in last few yrs plus ind estates so very few natural places of habitat for wildlife. it is a shame. lucky i am not too far from a forest so i can go for walks there.

Thanks Sid for that brainwave - I'll put sand there tomorrow! I hope Henry doesn't decide to go and say good morning to the squatters before I see any footprints!