A molecatcher (also called a mowdy-catcher)[ citation needed ] is a person who traps or kills moles in places where they are considered a nuisance to crops, lawns, sportsfields or gardens.
A molecatcher (also called a mowdy-catcher)[ citation needed ] is a person who traps or kills moles in places where they are considered a nuisance to crops, lawns, sportsfields or gardens.
Excavations of ancient Roman sites have revealed earthenware pots that had been set in the ground. The pots were filled with water, and acted as traps for moles. [1]
Many early molecatchers set out snares for the moles, taking care to remove human scent from the loops. [2] Over time, traps used to catch and kill moles became more advanced and complicated, incorporating weighted wood or cast iron, and eventually sprung steel. [2]
Some itinerant molecatchers travelled from farm to farm. The molecatcher's customers would provide food and lodging, as well as a fee for every mole caught. The molecatcher could also earn additional money by selling the moleskins to furriers. [3] [4]
In more recent times, traditional molecatching has given way to the use of poison. [5] [6] Poison resulted in moles dying much more quickly and in greater numbers. For some time, strychnine was used to kill moles; its purchase was cheaper than paying molecatchers, [7] but sometimes other animals that shared the environment or interacted with moles were accidentally poisoned as well. [5]
Repellents, including sonic devices, holly leaves, moth balls, garlic and castor oil have not proven successful in preventing damage caused by moles. [8]
The value of moleskins was subject to the vagaries of fashion. In 1903 a furrier in Leicester was offering £1 per hundred, in 1926 the price was 12s 6d (62.5p) per dozen. By the 1930s only a few pence per skin was being paid. Some molecatchers were full time. In 1875 the town of Out Rawcliffe was advertising for a molecatcher for a term of fourteen years. In Windsor Great Park the molecatcher was said to receive £1 per week in 1910. In 2002 Victor Williamson, the molecatcher for the Sandringham, received a Royal Warrant. [9] Following the withdrawal of the poison from the market in 2006, the use of strychnine is no longer an approved method of control in the UK. [8] Fumigation with products based on aluminium phosphide (Trade names 'Talunex' and 'Phostoxin') is still an approved method of control, but may be carried out only by fully trained operatives. [8]
Since the removal of strychnine from the UK market, there has been a revival of traditional molecatching methods in Britain. [8] Modern traditional mole catchers use traps, and usually charge a 'per-mole' fee, as their predecessors often did. The price charged reflects the fact that there is no longer a market for moleskins.
Moles are small mammals adapted to a subterranean lifestyle. They have cylindrical bodies, velvety fur, very small, inconspicuous eyes and ears, reduced hindlimbs, and short, powerful forelimbs with large paws adapted for digging.
The Fens or Fenlands in eastern England are a naturally marshy region supporting a rich ecology and numerous species. Most of the fens were drained centuries ago, resulting in a flat, dry, low-lying agricultural region supported by a system of drainage channels and man-made rivers and automated pumping stations. There have been unintended consequences to this reclamation, as the land level has continued to sink and the dykes have been built higher to protect it from flooding.
Strychnine is a highly toxic, colorless, bitter, crystalline alkaloid used as a pesticide, particularly for killing small vertebrates such as birds and rodents. Strychnine, when inhaled, swallowed, or absorbed through the eyes or mouth, causes poisoning which results in muscular convulsions and eventually death through asphyxia. While it is no longer used medicinally, it was used historically in small doses to strengthen muscle contractions, such as a heart and bowel stimulant and performance-enhancing drug. The most common source is from the seeds of the Strychnos nux-vomica tree.
Wisbech is a market town, inland port and civil parish in the Fenland district in Cambridgeshire, England. In 2011 it had a population of 31,573. The town lies in the far north-east of Cambridgeshire, bordering Norfolk and only 5 miles (8 km) south of Lincolnshire. The tidal River Nene running through the town is spanned by two road bridges. Wisbech is in the Isle of Ely and has been described as 'the Capital of The Fens".
Flag Fen, east of Peterborough, England, is a Bronze Age site which was constructed about 3500 years ago and consists of more than 60,000 timbers arranged in five very long rows, creating a wooden causeway across the wet fenland. Part-way across the structure a small island was formed. Items associated with it have led scholars to conclude that the island was of religious significance. Archaeological work began in 1982 at the site, which is located 800 m east of Fengate. Flag Fen is now part of the Greater Fens Museum Partnership. A visitor centre has been constructed on site and some areas have been reconstructed, including a typical Iron Age roundhouse dwelling.
Jane Elizabeth Lathrop Stanford was an American philanthropist and co-founder of Stanford University in 1885, along with her husband, Leland Stanford, in memory of their only child, Leland Stanford Jr., who died of typhoid fever at age 15 in 1884. After her husband's death in 1893, she funded and operated the university almost single-handedly until her unsolved murder by strychnine poisoning in 1905.
Strychnos nux-vomica, the strychnine tree, also known as nux vomica, poison fruit, semen strychnos, and quaker buttons, is a deciduous tree native to India and to southeast Asia. It is a medium-sized tree in the family Loganiaceae that grows in open habitats. Its leaves are ovate and 5–9 centimetres (2–3.5 in) in size. It is known for being the natural source of the extremely poisonous compound strychnine.
Brucine, is an alkaloid closely related to strychnine, most commonly found in the Strychnos nux-vomica tree. Brucine poisoning is rare, since it is usually ingested with strychnine, and strychnine is more toxic than brucine. In synthetic chemistry, it can be used as a tool for stereospecific chemical syntheses.
A rat-catcher is a person who kills or captures rats as a professional form of pest control. Keeping the rat population under control was practiced in Europe to prevent the spread of diseases, most notoriously the Black Death, and to prevent damage to food supplies. In modern developed countries, such a professional is otherwise known as a pest control operative or pest exterminator.
Lobsters are widely fished around the world for their meat. They are often hard to catch in large numbers, but their large size can make them a profitable catch. Although the majority of the targeted species are tropical, the majority of the global catch is in temperate waters.
Strychnine poisoning can be fatal to humans and other animals and can occur by inhalation, swallowing or absorption through eyes or mouth. It produces some of the most dramatic and painful symptoms of any known toxic reaction, making it quite noticeable and a common choice for assassinations and poison attacks. For this reason, strychnine poisoning is often portrayed in literature and film, such as the murder mysteries written by Agatha Christie.
Hilgay is a village and civil parish in Norfolk, England, 4 miles (6.4 km) from Downham Market. It covers an area of 33.38 km2 (12.89 sq mi) and had a population of 1,341 at the 2011 Census. For local government purposes, it falls within the district of King's Lynn and West Norfolk.
Fishing techniques are methods for catching fish. The term may also be applied to methods for catching other aquatic animals such as molluscs and edible marine invertebrates.
Arthur Redvers Randell wrote about life in the English Fens.
The Wisbech & Fenland Museum, located in the town of Wisbech in the Isle of Ely, Cambridgeshire, England, is one of the oldest purpose-built museums in the United Kingdom. The museum logo is W&F.
Walsoken is a settlement and civil parish in Norfolk, England, which is conjoined as a suburb at the northeast of the town of Wisbech, Isle of Ely, Cambridgeshire.
The Mirshikar are a Muslim community, found in North India who were traditionally hunters and trappers of birds and small animals. This title was used for the high position of "chief huntsman" and served in the courts of Persian and Mughal rulers and taught them to hunt.
John (Jack) William Gordon was an English writer of young-adult supernatural fiction. He wrote sixteen chlldren's fantasy novels, including The Giant Under the Snow, four short story collections, over fifty short stories, and a teenage memoir.
A roddon, also written as rodham, roddam or rodden, is the dried raised bed of a watercourse such as a river or tidal-creek, especially in The Fens in eastern England. Such raised silt and clay-filled beds are ideal for settlement in the less firm peat of The Fens. Many writers have followed the archaeologist Major Gordon Fowler's preference for the word roddon to define such structures though modern researchers suggest the word rodham is the more correct local word.
Geoff Hastings, was an English photographer who worked in Wisbech in the 1950s when the town was being redeveloped. He worked for the Air Inspectorate Department in nearby March, auditing aircraft parts during the Second World War. After the war, he married and worked in Wisbech as a manager with Cambridgeshire Motors on Elm Road. His house was one of many that was affected by the 1978 Wisbech Flood. His collection of thousands of prints was ruined. Fortuitously, the film negatives were not.
