On the moles

[Nicepix 5,650]

5 hours ago, comanche said:

" temporary territories inherited from previous generations  of moles" ,or something like that anyway .

l bet that if we could interview long dead gardeners and farmers from 100 or more  years ago we'd realise we're dealing with moles in exactly the same patches of ground as they did. Probably during comparable times of the year and    weather conditions.

Even new housing estates  are not without problems . 

They might not suffer the curse of an old indian burial ground( not in Sussex anyway)  or a pet cemetery   , but no Estate Agent dare speak of the sinister horror that may lay beneath the manicured turf .   Ancestral mole runs!    

A few years ago I did a garden at Civray that had been a safe house run by the Knight's Templars. The walls of the strong room were 5 foot deep. The garden had been changed over the centuries, but much of the original layout could be visualised. I got a hunch that there had been a fence line running right across the garden, but there were none of the usual aids: dandelions and other airborn seeded weeds situated in a line. Anyway, I probed a line 90 degrees across where I thought the fence ought to have been and sure enough the probe dropped into a tunnel. That tunnel was like a polished drain pipe. There wasn't a teaspoon of dirt in it. And of course the trap caught so well that the householder decided to put his own trap in and I haven't been back since. 

There is a similar tunnel that would have followed another old field border in another garden. The first time I put a trap in it we had a single mole in each of the next 16 checks. All in the same side of the trap. It has happened in other gardens and I am convinced that moles migrate seasonally using the old tunnels that have been there for centuries. 

 

[Moorman 1 1,353]

Just got in, picked up another 78 from the same farm today, that's 207 in 3 days on around 150 acres.

[tank34 2,341]

33 minutes ago, Moorman 1 said:

Just got in, picked up another 78 from the same farm today, that's 207 in 3 days on around 150 acres.

Got got soaked to bones by 11 .30 called it a Day was in field for 7.30 got one field trapped checked other field cupple back fill put talpax in just the 3 moles today

[Moorman 1 1,353]

2 minutes ago, tank34 said:

Got got soaked to bones by 11 .30 called it a Day was in field for 7.30 got one field trapped checked other field cupple back fill put talpax in just the 3 moles today

That's the way it goes sometimes, weather wasn't too bad for us today, looks like a different story for the rest of the week though. Setting up another smaller farm tomorrow. I had a couple in talpex today that had backfilled duffus traps.

[earth-thrower 493]

2 hours ago, Nicepix said:

A few years ago I did a garden at Civray that had been a safe house run by the Knight's Templars. The walls of the strong room were 5 foot deep. The garden had been changed over the centuries, but much of the original layout could be visualised. I got a hunch that there had been a fence line running right across the garden, but there were none of the usual aids: dandelions and other airborn seeded weeds situated in a line. Anyway, I probed a line 90 degrees across where I thought the fence ought to have been and sure enough the probe dropped into a tunnel. That tunnel was like a polished drain pipe. There wasn't a teaspoon of dirt in it. And of course the trap caught so well that the householder decided to put his own trap in and I haven't been back since. 

There is a similar tunnel that would have followed another old field border in another garden. The first time I put a trap in it we had a single mole in each of the next 16 checks. All in the same side of the trap. It has happened in other gardens and I am convinced that moles migrate seasonally using the old tunnels that have been there for centuries. 

 

Too right , they migrate back in , through main runs,...interesting account there, & multiple catches ! heard random somewhere, young moles can travel up to 1km, too find a territory, whether that's through existing tunnels, or partially above ground, I wouldn't know,..

[earth-thrower 493]

2 hours ago, Moorman 1 said:

Just got in, picked up another 78 from the same farm today, that's 207 in 3 days on around 150 acres.

I think I could get a moleskin coat out o that lot, now,  mate !   

[comanche 2,948]

3 hours ago, earth-thrower said:

I think I could get a moleskin coat out o that lot, now,  mate !   

That brought a thought to my mind. Many years ago l had a famous , or infamous depending on your stan-point, politician as  a regular customer.  

While chatting to his elderly wife l learned that her uncle or Grandfather, l can't  recall which ,had been a mole-catcher. 

Apparently back in those days an apprentice mole-catcher was considered to be on the way to being a journeyman when he'd made his first moleskin waistcoat.

Then ensued a surreal conversation as we tried to decide just how many skins it  would take ,dependent on the chosen style, size of the wearer and whether it was lined by fur or fabric.

Despite the cruel  rumours it's not true that it's  taken me 40 years to make a fingerless glove.....

Edited February 14, 2022 by comanche
I am an idiot

[Ken's Deputy 4,459]

Got a mole skin waistcoat here. From memory, I'd say the pelts used are probably about 3" x 2"? I think that would be max. Could be 2 x 1 for all I know. Haven't looked at it in years and honestly never occurred to me to measure them.

Scottish moles were considered the business to work with. (Was Aberdeen mentioned?) Thicker furred.

 

[Nicepix 5,650]

Some miliners advertised for mole skins in country sports magazines. They put their advert inside a rectangle that indicated the size of the pelts they required. Winter caught moles fetched a higher  price. The pelts were used to make bowler hats. 

My old mate used to cure the pelts using the mole's cerebal fluid. He posted them off in packs of a dozen to a small company in East London run by a couple of Jewish brothers. He'd receive a postal order as payment and each year they would invite him to join them in their box at the Doncaster racecourse St. Leger meeting. He reckoned he got paid more for the pelts than the farmers and Parish Councils paid him for the trapping.

I still have a couple of his traps. One stamped "Duffus" and a single wire Fenn mole trap.

[comanche 2,948]

1 hour ago, Nicepix said:

Some miliners advertised for mole skins in country sports magazines. They put their advert inside a rectangle that indicated the size of the pelts they required. Winter caught moles fetched a higher  price. The pelts were used to make bowler hats. 

My old mate used to cure the pelts using the mole's cerebal fluid. He posted them off in packs of a dozen to a small company in East London run by a couple of Jewish brothers. He'd receive a postal order as payment and each year they would invite him to join them in their box at the Doncaster racecourse St. Leger meeting. He reckoned he got paid more for the pelts than the farmers and Parish Councils paid him for the trapping.

I still have a couple of his traps. One stamped "Duffus" and a single wire Fenn mole trap.

I used to send squirrel tails   jay wings and similar body parts  to Veniards in Thornton Heath to be made into fly-tyimg materials.   I think they paid 30 pence for  mole skins. They gave instructions for stretching and pinning them into roughly  five  or six inch squares and drying them on a board before dispatch. To be honest it seemed like a great idea for making a few extra quid at 8 in the morning. By tea time the idea of messing about on a winter's evening with a pile of soggy moles had lost its  appeal. I stuck to the squirrel tails!

Which brings me onto Ken's bit of first hand information regarding his  moleskin waistcoat.  It throws the conclusions made by Mrs Politician's wife and myself about the number of skins needed into disarray!

We worked on the assumption that the skins would indeed measure five or six inches each. It struck me at the time that it wouldn't  take all that many skins . That seemed like  an unfeasibely short apprenticeship.  It cast a little  doubt in my mind regarding her assertion that a mole-catcher was "on the way" once he had enough skins for a waistcoat.  

In hindsight we hadn't factored-in the need for trimming,styling and hemming. Such a simple error. 

If Ken's waistcoat is made of much smaller sections of skin her story makes much more sense. 

I feel l should mentally appologise to the late Mrs X for my ungallent doubts.

 

 

Edited February 15, 2022 by comanche

[Ken's Deputy 4,459]

13 hours ago, Ken's Deputy said:

Got a mole skin waistcoat here. From memory, I'd say the pelts used are probably about 3" x 2"?

Boom! Couldn't just leave it as a mystery. 3 x 2" it is. Got the damn thing out and measured them, such as they now are.

Seen better days, I'm afraid. Haven't we all? Damn thing's half a century old now:

 

[comanche 2,948]

33 minutes ago, Ken's Deputy said:

Boom! Couldn't just leave it as a mystery. 3 x 2" it is. Got the damn thing out and measured them, such as they now are.

Seen better days, I'm afraid. Haven't we all? Damn thing's half a century old now:

 

That's a pretty neat thingy to have.

I wonder if the skins are doubled over for strengh or a more luxurious feel . Or if only a small section of each skin was considered useable .

Brilliant bit of history! 

[Ken's Deputy 4,459]

" Doubled Over "? Dunno how ye mean, mate. But, I saw and handled the 'sheet' ~ would it be called? ~ of sewn skins it was made from. (A Bolt of mole? Made by a Mole Bolter, perhaps? Grand invention)

Yeah. Just skins. Sewn together like a quilt. Little tanned, brown backs showing, as I recall. I honestly have no real idea if the Furrier bought them  / it like that. Or if he sewed them himself? No idea.

 And he's extremely dead, by now. Must have been fifty or more, fifty years ago! Dying trade and expertise.

Talking of dying? The skins were dyed. Uniformity, I s'pose? But, more than that; He offered me the option of a Burgundy one too. Saw it. Burgundy bolt. Like a Norwegian Golden Shot.

No way I was having that though. People'd assume it was just crushed velvet. Looks very much like it, to be honest.

Anyway ...

 

[earth-thrower 493]

On 15/02/2022 at 08:02, Nicepix said:

Some miliners advertised for mole skins in country sports magazines. They put their advert inside a rectangle that indicated the size of the pelts they required. Winter caught moles fetched a higher  price. The pelts were used to make bowler hats. 

My old mate used to cure the pelts using the mole's cerebal fluid. He posted them off in packs of a dozen to a small company in East London run by a couple of Jewish brothers. He'd receive a postal order as payment and each year they would invite him to join them in their box at the Doncaster racecourse St. Leger meeting. He reckoned he got paid more for the pelts than the farmers and Parish Councils paid him for the trapping.

I still have a couple of his traps. One stamped "Duffus" and a single wire Fenn mole trap.

"winter caught moles fetched a higher price",...read them being referred too, as "best winter clears "

Edited February 16, 2022 by earth-thrower

[earth-thrower 493]

On 15/02/2022 at 13:27, Ken's Deputy said:

Boom! Couldn't just leave it as a mystery. 3 x 2" it is. Got the damn thing out and measured them, such as they now are.

Seen better days, I'm afraid. Haven't we all? Damn thing's half a century old now:

 

 Thanks for showing, got to be a rarity, now, only know of one other, who got one made,..