Something is destroying our lawn!

[FlossieF]

I suspect that we have an infestation of some sort of grub, but surely it can't be birds causing this level of damage?

It happens during the night. The damage that can be seen in the photo (and more) happened over the last two nights. At this rate, the entire lawn will be gone in a week.

Should I just resign myself to having to let the lawn get completely destroyed, looking at a muddy mess all winter, and reseeding in the spring? It's only a lawn, and grass will grow again, but it's still surprisingly upsetting.

Another vote for badgers.

You could try citronella oil or lion dung as deterrents.

I would suggest badgers and there must be a food source in your lawn that is attracting them. The only other animal that I have seen cause that sort of damage is pigs, but i doubt there are many of those roaming around your neighbourhood :)

I don't live out in the country and I've never seen a badger in my garden.

Badgers. Your lawn/garden is rich in insect life which is wonderful to know.

I have foxes (counted 10 couple of years ago), hedgehogs and squirrels and none have done this. Never had deer but have also never seen this from watching wildlife programmes. Wild pigs and badgers do this though.

I cant wait to see the camera snaps

But @bingotime, not living rurally and never having seen a badger in your garden does not mean that they are not around - badgers are now, like foxes, living in urban areas too - the badger population has exploded over the last few decades, one of the main reasons why the hedgehog population has crashed! There is nothing a badger likes more than a hedgehog as a tasty starter! Although the TV wildlife pundits brush this under the carpet and pretend it doesn't happen

Birds wouldn’t do it at night this is badgers

put chicken wire over the top

or get a camera and enjoy

Definitely badgers. Put electric fence up around your lawn

We had this, it was badgers! No advice as ultimately we preferred having badgers to a nice lawn, they came back year after year so we gave up trying to fix it. They do make the round deeper holes as well, that's finding worms with their snouts, this mess is for crane fly larvae!

Mine is similar. Bloody squirrels!

In a cruel and horrible twist, we found the badly mauled remains of our cat on the lawn this morning. Assume attacked and killed by the lawn digging animal.

The wild-life camera arrived yesterday but I didn't get time to install it, so we'll never know for sure. I will install it to find out whether it is foxes or badgers. I think we can rule out squirrels and birds though. Won't derive much joy from watching them in action now.

Oh my goodness!! 🥺 I'm so sorry, that's awful. Your poor cat.

😮 omg poor cat!
When you find out what on earth is wrecking your lawn I'd have to kill it/them because of that!

Oh no, so sorry about your lovely cat. It does sound v much like a badger, particularly if they went for the cats head.

Oh my goodness 😲😢 I’m so sorry, your poor cat. My deepest sympathies to you, how awful for you ☹️

Thank you. I and DS10 are in bits. Hind-quarters in a bad way apparently (husband found the body and advised us not to look), so I guess she was running away but wasn't fast enough.😥She has been buried next to a cherry tree at the allotment and poppy seeds sown. Hopefully deep enough that the allotment badgers don't dig her up.

I'm so sorry about your cat OP, that's awful :-(

we have the same issues. It is foxes at least in our case. They dig for grubs and make a right mess. I have seen them doing it .
We have put one of those devices to keep cats off and it has stopped them to some degree but now entirely. it is v frustrating.

@FlossieF
Sorry just seen your update. So v sorry about your cat. That is awful x

Poor you. What a mess! I was going to write that, re the lawn. Before I even read the bit about the cat.
I'd put some netting / wire over it, until I've had a good chance of viewing a few days / a week of the wildlife camera evidence.

Because of poor cat, once you have video evidence I'd ring pest control and just get then to come out and get rid.

So sorry for your loss :( Badgers and foxes rarely attack cats, but it can happen, especially if the cat takes them by surprise and they feel threatened and cornered, your cat probably thought he was doing good by defending his garden and the fox/badger panicked and attacked :( If you have any more pets i'd keep them indoors just to be on the safe side :( Hopefully the camera will identify the culprit, and then you can find ways to keep it away!

Another vote for badgers.

@FlossieF did you find out what the cause is?

It'll be crows or other birds trying to get to the grubs of daddy long legs (leather jackets?) they lay their eggs and then the grubs eat the grass roots when they hatch and the birds can then easily scrape the grass up to get to them.
There's nothing you can put on it to get rid -the only effective stuff is banned in this country and nematodes aren't a certain solution - we ended up taking up all the affected grass, raking it over to get the bugs to the top where they could be eaten, then reseeding in the spring.