The clocks have gone back, Bonfire Night bonfires and fireworks are sending wildlife scattering for cover, and a wet end to October has left lawns and verges across Bulwell, Old Basford, Radford, Lenton and Forest Fields thoroughly saturated. Two very different pests thrive in exactly these conditions: rats looking for a warm, dry place to see out the winter, and moles pushed closer to the surface as softened ground makes tunnelling easy work. Here’s what residents in these areas should be watching for.
Rats heading indoors around Bulwell and Old Basford
As temperatures drop, rats stop ranging as far for food and start looking for shelter close to a reliable food source. The terraced streets around Bulwell Hall Park and Highbury Vale are a classic entry route, with rats working along garden fences and the old railway embankments near the Leen Valley trail before finding their way into sheds, garages and gaps under decking. Old Basford’s mix of older brick terraces and canal-side allotments gives rats plenty of cover to approach a property unseen, often along the Nottingham Canal towpath or through overgrown allotment plots that haven’t had a final autumn tidy-up.
Signs to look out for include dark, pellet-shaped droppings near bins or along skirting boards, greasy smear marks where rats repeatedly squeeze past the same gap, and scratching noises in wall cavities or under floors in the evening. Bonfire Night fireworks can also temporarily displace rats from gardens and allotments, sending a few more than usual scouting for a new place to settle over the following days.
Moles active in gardens and recreation grounds around Radford, Lenton and Forest Fields
Molehills tend to appear in bursts after heavy rain, and late October’s downpours have left the ground soft enough for moles to push new tunnels close to the surface in search of worms. Lenton Recreation Ground and the playing fields around the University of Nottingham’s Highfields and Jubilee campuses are regular hotspots, as is Forest Recreation Ground – the Goose Fair site – where open grassland gives moles an easy run with few obstructions. Allotment holders off Lenton Boulevard and around Berridge Road in Forest Fields often find fresh molehills across recently dug beds, which can be disheartening after a season’s work preparing the ground for winter.
A single mole can throw up several molehills a day as it extends its tunnel network, and the volume of soil can look alarming even though it’s usually the work of just one animal. Left alone, mole activity is mostly cosmetic, but on a lawn, bowling green or newly seeded area it can undo weeks of work and create tripping hazards once the hills are flattened by foot traffic.
Telling rat and mole activity apart
It’s easy to mix up different types of garden disturbance at this time of year, so here’s a quick guide: rat activity shows up as burrow entrances roughly the size of a tennis ball, usually along a fence line, under a shed base or beside a compost heap, often with a flattened, well-used run between the hole and a nearby food source such as a bird feeder or bin store. Mole activity, by contrast, shows up as volcano-shaped mounds of loose, fine soil scattered across open lawn or grassland, with no obvious burrow entrance visible and no droppings or food debris nearby. If you’re seeing greasy marks on walls or hearing scratching after dark, that points to rats; if it’s just soil heaps appearing overnight on the lawn, that’s almost certainly moles.
What residents can do now
For rats, the best time to act is before they’ve fully established themselves indoors: clearing garden debris, cutting back overgrown areas near fences, and securing bins with tight-fitting lids all make a property less appealing. Blocking obvious gaps under sheds and decking with wire mesh helps too, though any suspected existing infestation is best left to a professional rather than disturbed, since a poorly handled removal can push rats further into a building. For moles, humane, effective control is more specialist than many residents expect – DIY traps and repellents sold online have a poor success rate compared with professional trapping, which is usually quicker and less disruptive to the lawn overall.
If you’re in Bulwell, Old Basford, Radford, Lenton or Forest Fields and are seeing signs of rats or molehills appearing in your garden, allotment or outdoor space, NestBusters covers the whole of Nottingham and can get a technician out quickly to assess and treat the problem properly. Call 0742 984 9483 or visit nottinghampest.co.uk to book an inspection.
