While I have not seen the creator of this pile of dirt that was pushed up from below, I can almost promise that it is one of many moles (les taupes, en français) that reside on the banks of the Loire. I saw these all the time in my yard in Virginia years ago and I never saw the critters there either. Francophone test: There is an expression in English regarding what one should NOT make out of this mole hill (taupinière); what is it?
:-) une montagne !
ReplyDeleteBravo...vous avez gagné !
Deleteoh oh, there may be a problem there!
ReplyDeleteWell you do have to watch your step... even if it's only dirt.
DeleteThey must be bigger than the moles we've seen here...
ReplyDeleteSince I haven't actually seen one, I can't say for sure how big they are. A quick search on the internet would indicate they're 15-20 cm long (Taupe européenne). The pile in the picture is probably 40 cm wide.
DeleteA mountain oui? I feel a little deprived.. We don't have 'moles digging holes' here in Oz :))
ReplyDeleteWell if you are trying to maintain a nice lawn in Oz then you are very lucky. I don't have a lawn here, so I have no problem with them digging their little hearts out down by the river !
DeleteWe used to have many of those in our yard in San Diego - but from gophers. We had one little dog that could catch them, usually I put a special long trap in the tunnel and managed to remove quite a few. There were always replacements though.
ReplyDeleteYeah, that's the problem. There are so many of them.
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