Here's NUMBER 8 in our CRAZEE HOBBY list!

Number EIGHT in my list of UNUSUAL & CRAZEE HOBBIES is:

Photographing & cataloguing molehills.

These are mini wonders of the world, appearing as they do overnight. You get up one morning, go out to look at the pristine lawn that you are so proud of and Hey Presto! some creature has been at work in the dark hours doing their best to destroy years of hard work. You will rarely --- if ever --- see the culprit, for by the time you know that you've had a subterranean visitor not only has the damage been done, but the mole will probably be busy anywhere but where you search for him.

Molehills are, of course, simply a by-product of the moles' industrious nature as he (or she) tunnels away underneath your lush, green sward. I remember sitting up one night, many years ago, in the garden of a country inn where I was living at the time, intent on actually seeing a mole break the surface as it was building a molehill. When I set out on the task I expected it to happen during the evening, but in the end it was about 5 o'clock in the cold, misty morning when I saw a movement. It was a long cold night, but my reward was to have witnessed something that most folk, tucked sensibly up in their warm, cosy beds, would never see. Mind you, probably most of them will not mind having missed out on the long cold wait to see something that will probably be shown one day on a nature programme!

Moles are fascinating creatures, much-loved by all except the owners of the beautiful stretch of green, especially the groundsmen who look after bowling greens, cricket pitches and golf courses. They have been immortalised for the many people who have read about ‘Moley’ in The Wind in the Willows. Molehill activity tends to be greatest between autumn and spring, and some parts of the country can be riddled with molehills and tunnels. On racecourses, grass airstrips and sports fields, molehills could conceivably present risk of injury to pilots, horses, riders, and others participating in sport.

Moles have been famously (and falsely) implicated in the death of a king. In popular folklore William III is supposed to have died after his horse tripped over a molehill. The incident for years after allowed Jacobites to toast the vanquishing creature as 'the little gentleman in black velvet'. Sadly for romance, the story is only partly true. Certainly William's horse stumbled on 21 February 1702 and the king broke a collarbone in the fall. However, he made a steady recovery from his injuries in the next couple of weeks, and was soon back conducting business, if not appearing in public. It was only on 5 March that the true cause of death-a pulmonary fever-became evident." (From the Dictionary of National Biography - William III).

If you decide to participate in this hobby you will need a good camera, a stout note-book (one of those with a pen or pencil attached by a chain is ideal) and plenty of patience. As a means of helping your concentration and yet allowing time for meditation and contemplation it's wonderful, and is to be highly commended. The main problem for the average participant is going to be the extreme cold that sometimes has to be endured in the pursuit of this hobby!