An Old Friend, and an Opportunity

The blackbird that lives by White Lion Meadow (Tesco)

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Fresh water vole droppings in the ditch by Grocontinental.

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Field vole droppings for comparison. Teeny weeny, smaller than uncooked grains of rice.
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Water vole foot prints in the ditch by Grocontinental.

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A feeding station further up - could be field- or water-vole.
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Rubbish finding its way from the yard of one of the industrial units
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What's this pipe been discharging into the water?
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Unsuitable habitat - too many trees shading the soil.

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Checked on the ditch near Grocontinental and found more prints at one end and fresh droppings at the other, so it looks as though these water voles are establishing themselves well again this year. Then I followed the ditch further, crossing Grocontinental's yard, to investigate an area I'd not seen before. The first stretch looks like potentially good habitat as a lot of predators will be discouraged by the noise from the industrial units on either side, and at the moment the water level here stays pretty regular (though it may not do if a lot of new units get built - Shropshire Planning Dept need to be aware of this re application ref 11/00806/FUL ).

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However, further up the water is contaminated with rubbish from one of the units, and then towards the culverted end there are too many trees to allow much vegetation to grow on the banks. The habitat could be improved by felling some of the trees to let more light in, and asking the owners of the industrial units to take more care in how they dispose of their rubbish.

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An opportunity to extend and strengthen a water vole colony here!