Thanks for the question.

There are three possibilities: moles, voles, and/or gophers. I suspect a mole is involved here. A characteristic of their holes is a mound of dirt around the holes. These holes are usually between one to two inches in diameter. Voles make smaller holes, about an inch in diameter and just tunnel under the soil surface.  Rarely are mounds of dirt present. Gophers make bigger holes than moles and leave behind rather large mounds of dirt around the hole. Take a look at the following regarding these three types of critters and let me know your thoughts.

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=pTEzqB5wjcE

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=Rf-nwKYXZhY
There is one other possibility which is slight but should be considered. Skunks and/or raccoons will dig holes in turf to find grubs. Don’t know if you have had issues with, say, Japanese Beetles but they can be active at this time of the year. Dig around these holes a bit, lift up some pieces of turf, and look for some white grubs underneath.

I’ll look forward to your getting back to us so we can figure out remedial steps.

Thanks again for the question.



Thanks for your response.

The best indicator of vole activity is the lack of dirt mounds around the hole. When first responding to you, I thought there were such mounds around the holes. However you are in a far better visual position to see the absence of such mounds than I. Voles can have tunnels that may be close to the ground surface or quite deep in the soil. Tunnels close to the surface can contribute to a “spongy” soil. Moreover since these surface holes provide access to tunnels, the holes may go down several inches into the soil Assuming these are voles, here are some sites that may provide you with some remedial suggestions:

https://extension.umn.edu/planting-and-growing-guides/vole-damage

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=yRocDIgujNs

https://www.almanac.com/pest/voles

http://ipm.ucanr.edu/PMG/PESTNOTES/pn7439.html

As you can see from the above sites, for relatively small areas trapping can be quite effective. Voles are quite prolific. Litters can be up to five young and females become sexually mature soon after they are born. While voles seldom live more than a year, during that time a single female can have several litters.

Good luck and thanks again for your question.