At this time of year the voles are still very nervous and I'm only getting quick glimpses. Plenty of burrows appearing, though!
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The diary of a water vole colony
Labels
- adder (4)
- Ash (1)
- bank vole (6)
- barn owl (3)
- bat (1)
- Belton Farm (1)
- Bettisfield (1)
- Black Park Road (31)
- blue-green algae (2)
- Brick Kiln Farm (5)
- Broughall (12)
- Brown Moss (5)
- burrow (107)
- burrows (2)
- Chester zoo (4)
- Colemere (2)
- Coton (1)
- council (37)
- Criftins (1)
- ditch near Grocontinental (45)
- ditch near Lidl (2)
- dormice (1)
- dragonfly (6)
- Edward German Drive (73)
- Ellesmere (2)
- Environment Agency (31)
- feeding (143)
- Feeding station (83)
- field off Edgeley Road (425)
- field vole (44)
- Fordhall Farm (2)
- gardening (3)
- Grange Farm Ash (2)
- Greenfields Rise (1)
- Griffiths Tool Hire (3)
- Grocontinental (2)
- habitat (2)
- hares (9)
- harvest mouse (4)
- hedgehog (31)
- kit (4)
- latrine (281)
- lawn (1)
- lizard (20)
- Llangollen canal (3)
- mating (3)
- Mile Bank Road (7)
- mink (8)
- mole (1)
- moths (2)
- mouse (5)
- Nantwich (3)
- nest (2)
- newt (14)
- Norfolk (2)
- otter (45)
- plate (3)
- polecat (4)
- pollution (3)
- predator (51)
- Prees Branch Canal (35)
- Prees Heath (18)
- Prints (101)
- Quoisley Bridge (3)
- Raft (25)
- railway bridge by Homebase (42)
- rat (51)
- red squirrels (1)
- run (1)
- Saddlers Walk (23)
- Shropshire Wildlife Trust (4)
- Sighting (706)
- skull (2)
- snake (5)
- sparrowhawk (1)
- Steel Heath (6)
- stoat (7)
- timber yard (61)
- toad (5)
- trackway (5)
- vole spoon (4)
- water level (11)
- water shrew (15)
- Wayland Road (9)
- Waymills (6)
- weasel (7)
- Wem Moss (2)
- Whitchurch Country Park (64)
- White Lion Meadow car park (near Tesco) (427)
- Whitwater (Hickory Hollow) (3)
- Whixall (6)
- Whixall Moss (22)
- wood mouse (4)
- Wybunbury Moss (5)
- Yockings Gate (18)
About this Blog
This blog charts the fortunes of water voles in and around the Whitchurch area, North Shropshire. Water voles are one of the UK's most threatened mammals, extinct in many counties, and so it's vital they receive as much monitoring and protection as there is going. Here in Whitchurch we're lucky enough to have them right in the middle of town - how cool is that?
Links
- Wood Lane Nature Reserve at Ellesemere
- Wildlife Kate (not me!)
- Whitchurch Water Vole Group
- Views of the Ock - another water vole blog
- Terry Whittaker's wonderful vole photos
- Shropshire CC countryside information
- Richard Steel's wildlife photographs
- Out and About nature blog
- Jo Cartmell's shiny new Water Vole Info site
- Gilly Otter's lovely blog
- Derek Gow, Water Vole Expert
- Countryside Tales
- Contact the Environment Agency about river pollution here:
- Careering Through Nature
- Beautiful French wildlife blog
- ARKive short video clips and photos of water voles
2 comments:
Yes, quite nervous here too - yesterday evening I just saw a little face pop out of a newly excavated hole, sniff the air briefly, and then gone, back indoors. I saw another w-v with the help of binoculars - much further away, and swimming rapidly back to base camp. Then a 'splosh' as it dived under, not to be seen again.
Delighted to have spotted my first w-v latrine (also with the help of binos, as all the activity is on the far bank of the ditch). Having heard your Radio 4 piece, I knew to look for "tic tac sized poos"... and also saw the little footprints in the rather skiddy surface where the voles had been trampling them, to make them smell more and so mark out their territory! Lovely?!
I keep seeing some very zippy little mice too, amongst some ivy and tree roots. Plus there are green and great spotted woodpeckers about. Great time of year!
Sounds like it's all going on! I've only ever seen one green woodpecker - amazing birds.
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