Pests

By pests, we are referring to animals, insects and birds, not the human variety.

Any bird damage to a lawn is generally as a result of them trying to unearth the insect pests from beneath the surface.

For identification of  the insect pests, click here.

Animal pests.

Dog urine is a common one and probably the easiest to deal with. Cut out the damaged area to a depth of at least 3 inches. Either replace with turf or fill the hole with good quality soil and seed.

Rabbit damage to a lawn is comparatively small, they are usually after the new shoots of the flowering plants and shrubs in the borders.

Badgers are a different matter. If you have any insect grubs in your lawn, particularly the chafer grub, they will shred the turf to pieces to get at them. Unfortunately, the badgers' feeding might be the first time you are aware of chafer grubs in the lawn, by which time it will be too late to do anything other than to try to frighten the badgers away. There is a chemical treatment for chafer grubs which needs to be applied in November.