Saturday 17th November 2007

I have worked out what the moles have been doing. They are clearly digging to keep warm. They are workaholic moles who don’t like hibernating, so they have worked out that if they dig at least half a dozen holes a day in our garden and a few in Matilda the cat’s garden then that is another way to keep warm. I suspect that they have a tunnel linking the two sets of holes and every so often have races along the length of it for an alternative form of exercise. I am contemplating seeing if I could get a university to take me on based on a research project studying the moles in our back garden. I could undertake my study from the comfort and warmth of my own indoor vantage point and could consider such important issues as how moles manage to dig, sending the earth upwards, but so rarely does any part of their body appear above the surface. Except for the one time that my mistress saw a little snout sticking out, we have never seen as much as a paw above the surface and yet they send up such large piles of earth. At the rate of six new holes a day that means there will be at least a dozen new ones by the time I go back and check tomorrow. I wonder if I can get Matilda to do a detailed study of the events in their garden and provide me with her findings to include in my study. This could be big. Maybe pets from around the world will start sending me their own mole observations. I need to get answers to other important questions such as: does the same mole dig all the holes? Is it only one mole working on a hole or do they work in teams? How do they make such neat pyramids with the soil they throw out? This is going to be big.