A RETIRED gardener has been hailed for saving a village green and a rugby pitch from ruin by meddlesome moles.

The busy underground creatures had made more than 40 molehills on North Hinksey village green and forced the nearby Oxford Rugby Club to put their second pitch out of action on safety grounds.

The damage was said to be the worst caused by moles in the village for 50 years.

On hearing about the damage caused to the pitch, rugby club member Arthur Berry swung into action with his armoury of 20 mole traps to stop the problem from spreading.

And, after North Hinksey Parish Council received complaints from residents about the damage to the green, they established the mole was not a protected species and hired Mr Berry as their mole catcher.

Mr Berry, 76, who has lived in the village since 1959, said: “We always get a few moles around here but this is the worst I’ve ever seen it.

“It’s the first time they have got on the village green.

“They were going on the rugby pitch and leaving big holes.

“Moles can do a lot of damage to the ground. They are a pest.”

Mr Berry served his apprenticeship as a groundsman at Blenheim Palace. He uses spring traps to snare the animals.

He buries the traps underground, wearing rubber gloves to make sure the moles are not put off by a human scent.

Mr Berry, who worked as a gardener at Westminster College, in Botley, for 31 years, said: “Traps are the only way to get rid of them.

“The moles don’t suffer. Wwhen it catches them, they die more or less straight away.”

In total Mr Berry caught about 20 moles at the rugby club and five on the village green.

Rugby club spokesman Richard Tyrell said: “The moles forced us off pitch two for the last season.

“We had to put it out of commission, as the pitch became unplayable.

“The problem was on the second team pitch but they had started to spread and were coming up between the changing room and the first team pitch.

“It was a danger. When you’re running and there’s an unexpected hole in the ground, you’re going to twist your ankle.

“Mr Berry’s a man of the land, he’s salt of the earth and a lovely chap.

“Hopefully now the pitch will be back in action for next season.”

Parish councillor Eric Batts, who is chairman of the council’s playing fields committee, said: “There were a lot of mole hills in the village green and there had been some complaints from people in the village.

“They’re a damn nuisance and they undermine the soil.

“Arthur’s a local star. We’re very pleased with what he’s done.

“If it had carried on it would have ruined the village green.”