Voles leave neat, open holes in the lawn, about the size of a golf ball, with no soil heaped around them. Under the surface they feed on roots, bulbs and bark.
The damage often shows up before the animal does. The good news is that voles can be moved on without traps or poison, and without you having to catch anything.
How to tell if you have voles
Getting the identification right decides where you put your effort, so it is worth two minutes before you do anything else.
Field vole or bank vole?
Field voles leave narrow, grass-roofed tunnels across the lawn. They prefer long, tussocky grass for cover, and have a tail roughly a third of their body length. If your lawn surface is criss-crossed with runways, this is usually the one.
Bank voles are found among shrubs and hedges rather than open lawn. They have a slightly longer tail and a richer, reddish-brown coat. The damage tends to show on woody plants and bulbs rather than grass.
Voles or moles?
This is the distinction that changes the whole approach.
Moles leave large mounds of excavated earth. Voles leave small, clean holes with no mound at all, often tucked under a tuft of grass or a layer of mulch.
Moles are insectivores hunting earthworms. They do not eat your plants. If you are seeing mounds, nothing on this page will help.
Voles or mice?
A vole has a blunt snout, small ears that are partly hidden, and a short, hairy tail. A mouse has a pointed nose and a tail about as long as its body.
In practice the approach is the same for both, since both rely heavily on scent.
Signs of active damage
Look for runways: narrow, well-trodden paths through long grass or under leaf litter.
Check the ends of nibbled grass stems. Voles leave a distinct 45-degree cut, as though trimmed with small shears. Nothing else in a British garden leaves that mark.
On shrubs and young trees, look at the bark near the base for paired grooves left by their front teeth. Ring-barking, where a circle of bark is stripped from the trunk, can kill a young tree.
Root vegetables are the other giveaway. They look healthy from above and come up with chunks missing from underneath.
Why traps and poison are not the answer
Poison bait carries a risk beyond the animal you are targeting. A weakened rodent is easy prey, so barn owls, kestrels and domestic cats can be poisoned second-hand. Restrictions on rodenticide use in open areas have also tightened in recent years.
Traps are more targeted, but they need checking, resetting and emptying. For most gardeners that becomes a chore they abandon after a fortnight, and the population simply recovers.
Neither approach changes why the voles came in the first place.
A simple way to help keep voles and mice away
Revira is a natural, non-toxic deterrent designed to help keep voles, mice and badgers away from lawns, borders and vegetable beds.
It works on scent. Applied around the areas you want to protect, it helps make the ground feel less safe, so the animals are more likely to feed somewhere else.
Revira is:
- non-toxic
- safe for children and pets
- harmless to wildlife
The granules are clay-based, so the scent is released slowly rather than washing off in the first shower. That is the main practical difference from sprays.
See the mice, rodent and badger deterrent.
How to apply the granules
1. Cut back the cover
Voles are shy and rely on long grass and dense foliage to stay hidden from predators. Keep grass short near vegetable beds and clear piles of garden waste.
Removing the cover does half the work on its own.
2. Make a buffer strip
Apply a band of granules roughly 10 to 15cm wide around the areas you want to protect, so the animals meet the scent before they reach the plants.
3. Protect young trees separately
Ring-barking is worst in winter. Use spiral guards on the trunks as well as granules around the base.
4. Watch the mulch and the compost
Thick bark mulch and an active compost heap are warm and sheltered, which makes them a good place to settle in.
Keep mulch away from the stems of woody plants, and stand compost bins on a hard surface or line them with fine mesh.
5. Keep it up
Reapply every three to six months, and after prolonged heavy rain.
Vole activity peaks in spring and autumn, so those are the periods worth staying ahead of.
A checklist for a vole-resistant garden
- Keep grass short around vegetable beds
- Clear piles of cuttings and garden waste
- Keep mulch away from the base of woody plants
- Stand compost bins on a hard surface
- Fit spiral guards to young tree trunks before winter
- Apply deterrent around the beds you want to protect, not just where the holes are
Working with the garden rather than against it
Owls and kestrels do a lot of this work for you. A perching post gives them a clear view over open ground, which puts natural pressure on the population.
Combined with a scent barrier around the beds that matter, that is usually enough to keep the damage down without anything lethal.
Frequently asked questions
How do I know if I have voles or moles?
Moles leave large mounds of earth. Voles leave neat, open holes with no mound. Moles hunt earthworms and do not eat plants, while voles chew roots and bark.
Will the granules harm my pets?
No. The formula is clay-based and non-toxic, and it is not a bait. There is no risk of secondary poisoning the way there is with rodenticides.
How often do I need to reapply?
Every three to six months, and after prolonged heavy rain. Applying in early spring and again in autumn lines up with the seasonal peaks in activity.
Can I use it in my vegetable patch?
Yes. The formula is non-toxic and free from pesticides, so it will not leach into the soil or affect your crops.
Does it work for mice as well as voles?
Yes. Both rely heavily on scent, so the same approach works for both. That is useful when you are not certain which one you are dealing with.
Can I use it alongside an ultrasonic repeller?
You can, though scent granules tend to be more reliable in a real garden. Sound is blocked by hedges, walls and dense planting, which leaves blind spots. A scent barrier along the ground does not have that problem.
What if a bird picks up a granule?
The carrier is natural clay and the formula is non-toxic. It is not a bait and is not intended to be eaten, so it does not pose the risk that poison bait does.
Written by: Per Arne Reiersrud, CEO, Revira