From experience they like to dig moist soil eg runoff from our outdoor shower. After replanting things several times I eventually hit upon the idea of just laying a riverstone lined trench along the moist soil. Not smallish stones, heavier ones as they are quite persistent diggers if they like the area.
They don't seem upset by strong lights at all. We have one who will quite happily sit on the deck looking inside at night. We are only alerted to this by the cat who goes quite skitso by this admirer.
