About a Brook

Gearing Up

2012-02-15T07:52:00.000-08:00

Burrow about the diameter of a Pringles tube.

A vole from last year.

Diagonal-cut thick chunky plants are a reasonable indicator of water vole feeding.

Starry prints.

Water vole field signs at this time of year, in my experience, are quite subtle. Neat burrows appearing at the edge of the water course are the main ones to look out for, and starry pawprints in the mud, and a general vole-scaping of the banks. It tends to be next month when I start to get sightings and that latrines appear. However, a quick scout round the field off Edgeley Road reveals a couple of droppings on a sandbank, which might develop into a latrine when the breeding season gets going.

Carnivore Survey

2012-01-28T09:49:00.000-08:00

Suspect these snails have been eaten by voles.

Field vole latrine

Field vole burrow - with close-cropped lawn around the entrance!

I thought only water voles made lawns like this.

Bagging up and labelling the otter spraint.

Gareth Parry and members of the Shropshire Mammal group are studying the impact of carnivores on water voles this year. Today we warmed up by taking a look at the profile of the brook as it passes through Whitchurch Country Park (Greenfields Nature Reserve). No obvious water vole signs, but the site's teeming with field voles and we also found otter, badger and fox scat along the same stretch.

Voling 2012

2012-01-08T07:54:00.000-08:00

Whose prints?

Whose burrow?

Whose feeding?

Took a walk down to the fields on either side of the railway track to see if anything was stirring yet. There are prints - but are they rat? And burrows - ditto. Plenty of feeding signs, too, but that could be field vole (I saw a field vole run past as I was peering down a bank).
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Time will tell. Weather/temperature permitting, I'd expect to see water vole latrines appearing within the next couple of months. They are the best indicator of w-v presence, bar an actual sighting.

Small mammals on Whitchurch nature reserve.

2011-11-13T01:44:00.000-08:00

Field vole.

Bank vole - slightly browner coat, slightly longer tail.

Wood mouse.

A closed trap usually means there's something inside.

Carefully separating the two chambers. The animal can be in either the front or the back one.

Bait and bedding used.

Release! (Always into the same area where the mammal was found.)

Small-mammal survey at Whitchurch County Park (Greenfields Nature Reserve). The Longworth humane traps yielded seven out of ten positive results: three bank voles, three wood mice and a field vole, though at Whitwater fishery there were also shrews and a toad!

The traps were baited with moist apple, carrot and raisins and peanuts, and also casters which you need in case a shrew enters the trap. Soft grass and mossy bedding is added to keep the animal warm. The traps are put out the first night and left open, then set the second night and checked early the following morning. Longworth traps separate into two chambers: separation is done carefully over a bucket so the mammal can be contained whilst its species is checked.

Lots of small-mammal captures mean a healthy ecology so it was great to see so many on the reserve. I was especially interested to compare the field vole and bank vole as they're very similar in size and shape.

Handy tick list added later after discussion with friends on the Wild About Britain website:

Field vole (top)

short tail,
grey/light brown coat,
ears tucked in behind long shaggy hair,
long shaggy hair on back

Bank Vole (bottom)

Long tail,
redish brown/grey coat,
ears stick out
Tidy fur
Partially larger eyes

Both are evolved to fit their separate niche in the environment.

(Many thanks to Dogghound for this.)

Country Park

2011-10-30T08:15:00.000-07:00

zicrona caerulea

Candlesnuff fungus

Shaggy parasol

Field vole feeding and droppings.

Spraint is in the middle of the photo. As is often the case, it's glittery with fish scales.

No obvious evidence of water voles, but otherwise the nature reserve is thrumming with life. A walk to check on the Dexter cattle this afternoon yielded sightings of a goldcrest, a red admiral, a grey squirrel, a field vole and four types of fungus. There was otter spraint under the bridge, and the pond dug out a few years ago by Whitchurch Water Vole Group is full of field vole feeding stations.

Funky Fungus

2011-10-06T10:43:00.001-07:00

Crested Coral

Armillaria (mellea)

Two clumps of Amethyst Deceiver.

Beautiful autumn colours and shapes in a beech wood near Heptonstall, Yorkshire.

End of the Season

2011-09-23T11:11:00.000-07:00

Adult vole, off Edgeley Road

Juvenile vole (note large feet)

Latrine at Black Park Road

I checked Black Park Road and the stretch near the railway bridge and found a few signs which makes me think the colonies here have also had a stable year. The back of Waylands Road is so overgrown I can't get down to investigate, but if there are voles at the Homebase end, and voles at the Edward German Drive end, there ought to be voles in between.

In summary, then, all the areas I monitor seem to have done well in 2011 except for Brick Kiln Farm and Mossfields (the back of Saddler's Walk): both sites suffered through lack of rain, I suspect. There's been some sort of incident or crash on the Prees Branch Canal nature reserve too: my bet there is mink, and who knows whether that site will recover. On the plus side, the Country Park's made a strong recovery and I've seen more water voles there than ever before. Even though we've had very few sightings for White Lion Meadow, I believe there's still solid vole presence there but the lushness of the vegetation nowadays hides the banks and the stream. There could be herds of voles under there!

These chaps pictured above will probably be my last sighting of the year as it's getting too cold to sit still by the stream for long, and anyway the voles tend to move underground as winter approaches. So as usual, this blog will go into semi-hibernation till the spring, when I'll start again with a round-up of news on all the local colonies.

Grocontinental, and Edward German Drive

2011-09-18T03:26:00.000-07:00

Female water vole in the field off Edgeley Road (adjacent to the Grocontinental colony).

The Grocontinental ditch runs by the tree line.

Yes, there's a stream under here! Fantastic cover keeps the voles safe and gives them plenty to eat.

Part the vegetation to find grazing. Remember to cover up again afterwards.

Feeding station.

More grazing (click to enlarge). Can also be field vole, though, so check for latrines.

Old latrine with dried-out droppings. It's always worth checking old bits of wood.

The lorry park is very close to the banks.

Fresh water vole droppings, at the Edgeley Road end of the water course.

Lorry park on left, cement factory on right, stream in the middle.

Finally managed to battle my way down the public footpath at the back of Waymills Industrial Estate to check on the Grocontinental voles. I was able to find latrines and feeding right along the whole stretch up to the cement factory, which is a relief after the diesel discharge from the lorry park earlier in the year. Interestingly, though, the one section where I couldn't see any evidence of water vole presence was where the diesel was at its worst, pooling and contaminating the banks. Such pollution seems to have a definite detrimental effect lasting for months. Another concern I'd have is the amount of rubbish finding its way into the stream from Grocontinental's lorry park. Some may have got blown in, but some of it's clearly been chucked over the fence. It would be nice if the firm did a litter pick from time to time.

Later in the day I checked on Edward German Drive and there were plenty of feeding signs there, too. So I'm happy that these two colonies have had a stable year.

Saving Species on Radio 4 is here!

2011-09-13T08:27:00.000-07:00

The programme aired this morning, and the link is: http://www.bbc.co.uk/programmes/b014fd21 The piece about Whitchurch Water Vole Group comes about 16 minutes in.

Getting Colder

2011-09-12T11:30:00.000-07:00

GCN at Brown Moss

Brown Moss Toad

Not sure how many more nights of voling there are left in the year. It's getting pretty cold to sit still on the bank with my camera for any length of time.

Winding up the year

2011-09-08T11:45:00.000-07:00

Wee field mouse who jumped in our bird food bin.

It's the time of year when I check up on all the local colonies and see how they're doing. So far I've had a look at the field behind Saddler's Walk, or Mossfields as it's known, and also at Mike and Carolyn's voles out at Steel Heath. In both cases there was some feeding but no obvious latrines: I suspect both ditches have suffered through lack of rain this summer. However, there clearly was some water vole presence, so that's encouraging.

Magnificent

2011-09-06T01:02:00.001-07:00

This sparrowhawk landed in our garden yesterday tea time and was so busy devouring a starling I was able to get within arm's length of her.

Weight

2011-09-02T08:23:00.000-07:00

Juvenile water voles like this one above must weigh between 140-170g to survive the winter.

Formby Red Squirrels

2011-08-29T00:29:00.001-07:00

The colony at Formby, Lancashire, suffered a crash a few years ago due to squirrel pox, but the population's slowly making a recovery. Very hard to photograph, is your squirrel: they never stay still for more than two seconds and there always seems to be a twig in front of their face. This was the best I could do.

For visiting, see: http://www.nationaltrust.org.uk/main/w-formby-2

Coming soon: the BBC on Whitchurch Water Vole Group.

2011-08-24T07:09:00.000-07:00

So pleased to see this baby vole during an interview for Radio 4's Saving Species. The lovely Sarah Pitt had driven all the way to Shropshire from the Natural History Unit in Bristol, and we'd already sat for an hour in the field and seen nothing. Then this wee chap swam up and hung around for a minute or two, turning in the water and diving and kicking up mud. I reckon he's about three weeks old.

Males and females

2011-08-22T11:42:00.000-07:00

I've been reading up about the difference in face shape between the males and females, and how the female's supposed to have a slimmer head than the male with his "leonine ruff". But what about when they've been in the water and haven't bothered to shake themselves dry, as with this scruffy-looking vole above?

Postcard from Ravenscar

2011-08-20T10:18:00.001-07:00

Grey seal.

Young roe deer.

Redshank (I think).

Great week on the Yorkshire coast. Amazing place for both wildlife and geology!

The Joys of the Trail Camera

2011-08-10T01:08:00.000-07:00

Baby water vole

The two pics above: adult

Had to wait an hour before these two turned up at the same time. Was frozen! It's good to see the trail cam picking up another couple of voles further upstream, though. The one shown in the video clip above is a baby, and though you can't tell that from the perspective, its large feet are the give-away.

Water Voles back at Yockings Gate

2011-08-05T00:54:00.001-07:00

Juvenile vole, from the field off Edgeley Road.

Guinea-pig sized female.

Yockings Gate baby frog.

Yockings gate baby toad.

I haven't had a sighting at Yockings Gate since 2007, so it was a pleasant surprise to wander up there last night and see certainly one water vole, possibly two, on either side of the bridge by the farm. You'd struggle to get a decent photo as the vegetation's now extremely lush, but that's great for the voles. As I arrived, two swans were sailing up the central channel, and I know a baby water vole makes a good snack for a swan. So the more places the voles have to hide, the better. Everything eats voles.

This site's suffered in recent years from over-zealous dredging and from persons unknown dumping tubs of chemical waste into the water. I hope now the area's left to settle and the vole colony to really establish.

Buzzards

2011-08-02T01:38:00.000-07:00

Was watching this baby vole when a full-size buzzard landed on a fence just a few yards away. Message to rodents: site your feeding stations away from handy branches, poles and posts!

Family group

2011-07-27T01:05:00.000-07:00

Young bat my neighbours found (unharmed) in their curtains. Released the same evening. Pipistrelle?

Peripheral adult.

Young water vole (above and below).

Mum - the same adult vole I saw last night, I think, because of band of dark fur above the eyes.

Mum again.

Mum and youngster - no fighting at all!

I was privileged tonight to watch what I assume must have been a family group: at least two, possibly three young of exactly the same size sharing a piece of apple and swimming up and down the same stretch, plus an adult who seemed to be wholly tolerant of their presence in a way that suggests a parent and offspring. I saw this same adult vole top up the latrine too, so I'm guessing a female. In other words, mum and babies. There was at least one more adult lurking on the fringes.

Delighted to report too that we have a hedgehog in our garden.

Grocontinental: after the diesel

2011-07-25T06:16:00.000-07:00

Edgeley Road water vole. If you click to enlarge, you can just make out the orangeness of the teeth.

By the short culvert in the middle of the field. Just a few droppings is all it takes to confirm water vole presence.

Old latrine

Fresh latrine

Vole-cut stems.

Skull found at the Edgeley road end. Normally water vole teeth are much yellower/orange than this - I think this orange colour of the enamel is to do with extra strength as w-vs use their teeth to dig. I can't account for the paleness of this particular vole's enamel, but the size shows it definitely is water- and not field- or bank-vole.

I'd intended to survey the whole length of the stream as it goes past the Waymills units, but I was only able to get half way up the first field because the nettles and thistles are now chest-height and I ran out of steam. What I did find, though, was encouraging.

A week or so after the discharge of diesel into this brook, the voles seemed to vacate that stretch. Where there'd been abundant signs before, suddenly there was nothing except right at the Edgeley Road end just before the culvert. However, a few months down the line and activity seems to be spreading slowly back up again.

When colonies crash

2011-07-24T02:41:00.000-07:00

Young Edgeley Road vole swims past, spots me...

...and dives.

I've not been able to get down to the Prees Branch Canal reserve much this year, but when I did make it a couple of weeks ago I was dismayed to find no real evidence of water voles at all. This had been a strong colony for years, despite some mink scares along the way. But when the rest of the Whitchurch Water Vole Group went down to check, they were able to find only scant signs of a much-reduced population.

It does happen. White Lion Meadow was stuffed with water voles in 2006, and yet now the numbers are much reduced. The voles who live under the railway bridge at Homebase disappeared over the summer a couple of years ago, but came back the following spring and we never knew why. And of course last July the Greenfields/ Whitchurch County Park site was cleared out by mink, only this year it's recovered well and there seem to be more voles down there than ever.

Water vole colonies are fragile and need monitoring and occasional intervention (eg reporting pollution to the Environment Agency). If the problem is resolved and there are water voles living nearby, vacated areas can fill up again fairly quickly.

We don't know what's caused the crash at the Prees Branch Canal - my guess is mink - but I do hope next year there's better news.

More about poo

2011-07-20T13:14:00.000-07:00

I know these droppings are water vole because I saw the vole responsible, but it's unusual in my experience to see such a very light green colour. That's the kind of green I usually associate with field vole.

These voles sitting next to each other are probably from the same family group (otherwise they'd be fighting). It could be parent and offspring. Note the fuzzier fur of the juvenile.

Rat Reprise

2011-07-16T12:50:00.000-07:00

I've covered this subject before but it bears repeating: water voles are not rats. The chap in the photo immediately above is a common rat, Rattus norvegicus, with grey fur, prominent ears, a pointed pink nose, white feet and (if you could see it) a naked grey/pink tail.

Our water vole, top photo, has brown fur, tiny ears set close to the head, a blunt black nose, black feet and a dark furred tail.

If you need to get rid of rats in a water voley area, you need to seek professional advice as it's an offence to harm water voles even accidentally during genuine pest control.

Joy!

2011-07-13T08:16:00.001-07:00

Great news: I popped down to White Lion Meadow on a whim really, and slid down the only bit of bank you can now access as that stretch is now so overgrown. Straight away I found this latrine on top of an old car sponge. As I said in the post below, it's great because this is definitive proof that you've got breeding water voles there.

I should mention, a survey by professional ecological consultants this spring stated that "no water voles, or evidence for the presence of water voles in the form of latrines, burrows or feeding remains were recorded." (The whole report is on the Shropshire Council planning website here: http://planningpa.shropshire.gov.uk/online-applications/files/BC3F6F47A70200A7B0416BCDE9AC7F19/pdf/11_01988_FUL-ECOLOGICAL_ASSESSMENT-1442949.pdf )

Yet this blog has photographs of voles at the site actually in April, the same month the survey took place, and now this latrine verifies at least one breeding female.

A couple of observations on latrines

2011-07-13T01:39:00.000-07:00

Degraded latrines can be hard to see.

Unusually long water vole droppings. Generally they're shorter than this, more Tic-tac-shaped.

Definitely too chunky for field vole feeding!

Arguably latrines are the most important field sign of all. Not only are water vole droppings the most unambiguous sign of w-v presence - given that small feeding stations can be confused with those of field voles; burrows and footprints can be rats'; even sightings of the animals themselves aren't always clear as rats and f-vs swim about in a similar way to w-vs - but also the theory is that latrines can be used to estimate populations. This is because the female voles use them as territorial markers during the breeding season.

A formula has been developed which allows the number of water voles to be estimated from the number of latrines found: y = 1.48 + 0.683x where x = latrines counted and y = water voles (Morris et al., 1998).

However, when you're doing surveys it's easy to miss latrines because droppings are often mud-coloured (though they can also be dark greenish or almost black). In addition, they'll probably have been at least partly trampled flat by the female to spread the scent around - kind of like drawing an emphatic border round your 'Trespassers will be prosecuted' notice. So you need to really part the grass and get right down to earth level. Look for even slight discolourations to the soil, as in picture 3, and use camera zoom or binoculars to study likely-looking but inaccessible patches of bank. Water voles often like to use a raised or prominent area for a latrine, so a little spur of earth jutting out into the stream is a good place to look, or some protruding rubbish (polystyrene tiles and broken-off fence posts dropped into the water seem popular). I've even seen them on mole hills.

And remember that the calculation is only as good as the number of latrines you actually uncover. It may be you've missed half, or even more.

Not much bigger than an apple core

2011-07-05T01:25:00.000-07:00

Baby water voles are weaned at 14 days.

A slightly older but still not fully grown vole.

The plank I put down is now being heavily used as a latrine.

This very small vole at the top must be pretty new out of the nest because its body's only slightly longer than the apple core it's travelling past - about 3-3 1/2 inches. But the young vole was swimming confidently on its own, and certainly knew how to duck out of sight beneath the grassy overhang.

Silver Studded Blues

2011-07-03T13:04:00.001-07:00

I've fallen a bit in love with these rare butterflies, found on Prees Heath. They're smaller than Common Blues, and have a distinctive underwing pattern that features a little blue 'stud' in the centre of one of the ring markings round the edge of the wing (see post below for a photo of this). I'm guessing that the brown specimens are female and the blue male - not sure about the one that seems to be both!

Four Voles Tonight

2011-07-02T12:28:00.000-07:00

Spot the latrine!

In the happy position this evening of not knowing where to point my camera because the voles were so active.

Greenfields and the Country Park again

2011-07-01T13:03:00.000-07:00

Silver Studded Blue I found on Prees Heath last night.

Otter spraint.

Water vole prints from Greenfields reserve

Juvenile vole. I also had sightings of an adult and a baby this evening.

Normally I'm scrupulous about taking home any uneaten apple, but tonight I chickened out.

Good results from a survey this Thursday on Greenfields Nature Reserve and the area immediately around it, Whitchurch Country Park. There were lots of water vole feeding stations and latrines all along the back of Brookfields and on either side of the bridge at Greenfields Rise. When I checked under the other bridge, the one inside the reserve, there were water vole prints in exactly the place I'd seen a vole running when I was with my son a couple of weeks ago. There was also fresh otter spraint. Encouraging, as long as this year we can keep the mink at bay.

Water Repellent Fur

2011-06-28T13:16:00.000-07:00

Water voles in some ways aren't especially adapted to an aquatic life, in that they drown pretty easily in floods and they don't have webbed feet to make them stronger swimmers. But they do have fur that dries the second they shake it.

Does my bum look big in this?

2011-06-26T14:03:00.000-07:00

Nice rear shot above of the rounded rump of a water vole, and its dark brown tail. Rats' tails are pinky-grey in colour. This is also the vole with the slight fur loss round her left eye. I don't think it can be mange as it hasn't got any worse for weeks.

Top photo is another, slightly lighter-coloured vole. I saw three different water voles this evening.

Fur Colour: Water Voles versus Field Voles

2011-06-20T07:33:00.000-07:00

Lots of little animals readily swim, and here's a field vole crossing from one bank to another. It's exactly the same size and shape as a baby water vole. But the colour of the fur's the giveaway: the field vole directly above is significantly lighter brown than the water vole in the top picture.

New Camera, hooray!

2011-06-18T13:08:00.000-07:00

There's been less activity in the ditch by Grocontinental since the diesel discharge, but I was pleased to see lots of feeding stations at the Edgeley Road end, plus a brief sighting of an actual water vole. I need to go further up, into the stretch by the lorry yard, and see what's going on there.

The vole above's one of the ones in the field near my house.

Baby vole: the video

2011-06-15T01:21:00.000-07:00

I'm guessing this animal is 3-4 weeks old.

Baby!

2011-06-14T13:25:00.000-07:00

...and an adult.

Hooray for the Country Park

2011-06-11T05:41:00.000-07:00

Female vole, I think, attending her latrine (off Edgeley Road).

The vole at Greenfields.

Water vole feeding signs.

Amazing encounter with a water vole last night: I'd taken my son to Greenfields Nature Reserve (Whitchurch Country Park) to see if he could catch some stickleback. While he was getting his net ready, I had a quick look at the banks and saw straight away some nibbled vegetation that looked water-voley, and then I found a feeding station. Well pleased, I led him down under the concrete bridge to do some fishing.

We'd only been there five minutes when a large vole shot out of the water right by our feet - see photo above - ran along the bank and then swam around coolly for a while before disappearing off downstream. At exactly the same time, a common shrew dashed along the ledge opposite.

This is all very good news as last year mink cleaned out this colony, and this particular bridge was marked by lots of mink scat. I really hope we can keep the mink from coming in off the canal this summer.

Water Shrew

2011-06-10T09:29:00.000-07:00

Best shots I could manage, I'm afraid. If you put the video on on 'full screen' by double clicking on it, and then focus on the corner of the bank in the middle of the shot, the shrew swims underwater diagonally towards the right hand margin. It looks like a light-coloured, mouse-shaped blur. After a few seconds' pause, ripples show it zooming off up the stream.

Apple

2011-06-10T06:37:00.001-07:00

A word about using bait: if you do pop down a bit of apple to make your voles pause and pose and that apple doesn't get eaten, don't leave it out when you go. Drop it down a burrow, or take it home with you and bin it. Leaving out food, especially in an exposed spot, might mean the voles get predated, or it might encourage rats. In fact if you're feeding any wild animal, always clear up the excess.

Crepuscular

2011-06-08T13:08:00.000-07:00

I'd say you could see water voles any time of day or night, but I just popped down to the field now - 8pm, coming up to dusk - and it was very busy indeed. Three sightings in the fifteen minutes I was there.

Swimming Baby Vole

2011-06-06T11:00:00.000-07:00

The Same Vole as June 2nd?

2011-06-04T08:08:00.000-07:00

Litter Picker

2011-06-03T11:21:00.000-07:00

Vole eats picker.

Two latrines.

Essential to any voling kit is some sort of long stick - it will help you climb up and down steep banks, and part grass so you can look for trackways and burrows. Lots of people use broom handles for the purpose because they're sturdy, but I like a litter picker because I can use it to pick up small pieces of vegetation to check for vole-cut ends, or to pluck grass out of the line of my camera's vision.

Today I used it to deposit a small piece of apple on a sandbank, then laid it next to me on the grass. Within twenty minutes a water vole pushed its nose out of a burrow right by the litter picker's business end, and proceeded to bite the plastic prongs. Then it optimistically tried to drag the picker into the burrow. I can only assume this is because it could smell the apple still.

I've had water voles try and take my bag in the past, but never one quite so ambitious in its thievery.

Individual Voles

2011-06-02T06:25:00.000-07:00

I was hugely impressed by the lady on Springwatch two nights ago who could identify specific adders on her local reserve by their skin patterns. Voles have no such individual quirks, coat-wise. Except there are times I can ID a particular animal by its injuries - w-vs often pick up scars through fighting, and sometimes they get ticks, and very occasionally they have a patch of white on their fur as with 'Spot' a few years back.

http://staggsbrook.blogspot.com/2008/09/little-starry-feet.html

This adult female above has a a little fur loss round her eye which makes it look whiter than usual, so I can recognise her from day to day.

Another Contender for Wildlife Photographer of the Year

2011-05-31T11:37:00.000-07:00

If you look very carefully at the picture above, extreme right hand edge, you can just make out a water shrew's foot. To be honest it's amazing I caught it at all as they move like lightning. I see this shrew (or one like it) almost every time I go down the field now.

The voles love my plank now and are using it as a latrine.

Water Vole Stamp of Approval

2011-05-29T05:42:00.000-07:00

I placed my little 'platform' yesterday evening, and by this morning a female water vole had marked it with a modest latrine. I would have got a nice still shot of a vole reaching for an apple, but it turned out I had my camera set to video so instead I got a one-second movie clip. Sometimes I think I'm too stupid to be in charge of a camera.

Wildlife Photographer of the Year (not)

2011-05-28T08:17:00.000-07:00

Baby water vole - you can tell it's not a swimming field vole because it's so much darker

Seeing plenty of voles - two adults and a baby this afternoon - but not getting many shots so far. This is because the profile of the bank's changed, and where there used to be a handy shelf for the voles to rest and pose, there's now sheer bank so they just swim on by. I've dozens of shots of rippling water where one's just swum past and my camera hasn't caught it in time. I'll either have to improvise with a bit of wood, or find a new stretch of brook to watch.

Buzzard

2011-05-25T12:36:00.000-07:00

When I went down to the field this afternoon, a buzzard launched itself from the fence by the stream. Water voles are predated from the air by birds of prey, by herons and sometimes by corvids (which take baby voles). This is why w-vs usually swim keeping close to the banks, and if they do move out into open water they're always ready to dive down. The photos above are of two separate voles, but I saw two others who were too quick to photograph.

A check round the Staggs Brook by Black Park Road shows masses of feeding, much more than in previous years. I'd love to know how far up the brook the water voles extend. Do they go all the way to Blakemere, for instance?

Field Vole Peak

2011-05-20T12:35:00.000-07:00

Someone told me there was a field vole peak this year, and I'm certainly seeing more than usual. While I was waiting for tonight's water vole, I saw three -fv-s, one of which swam the brook in front of me. No confusing them with baby w-vs, though, as they're smaller, their fur's a great deal lighter and they move much much faster.
.
Pleased to report several good big feeding stations up at the far end of Edward German Drive now. This is good because I think this colony had a bit of a hammering from cats last year and I didn't know how well numbers would recover.

Furry

2011-05-07T02:46:00.000-07:00

My friends at WAB reckon this caterpillar is a Garden Tiger Moth.

Water Voles definitely back on Greenfields Nature Reserve!

2011-05-05T10:31:00.000-07:00

Common Blue (probably)

Small Copper

Met up with some people from Countryfile today to talk about the Dexter cattle grazing Greenfields Nature Reserve/Whitchurch Country Park. While I was there, I took the opportunity to have a quick hunt for water vole signs, and soon found these latrines and a good big feeding station. One latrine was actually inside the reserve rather than on the bend just outside it, so that's great news in view of the mink trouble last year.

Feeding Stations 2011

2011-05-03T10:54:00.000-07:00

The bridge over Greenfields Rise, just outside Whitchurch Country Park, and another water vole latrine I spotted on the bank below. Great news as the mink last year cleared this stretch.

Feeding at the bridge by Homebase.

Field at the back of Queensway/Saddlers Walk, and below, feeding stations in the ditch there.

Took a stroll down the back of Queensway/Saddler's Walk and as usual the tiny ditch is full of water vole feeding stations. I wish there was some ratio of working out feeding to colony numbers as there's supposed to be with latrines, but however you slice it, it looks like a lot of voles.

Getting regular sightings near Homebase now - these will peter out as the reeds quickly grow impenetrable - and in the field off Edgeley Road. If you take a walk along that brook early morning or evening, you hear one water vole after another plopping into the stream, and the banks are now full of latrines as the females set out their territories.

Encouraging News from the Country Park

2011-04-29T11:51:00.001-07:00

Enormous vole in the field off Edgeley Road.

Latrine just outside Greenfields Nature Reserve.

Reed bunting spotted at Whixall Moss this afternoon.

Metal bridge near Grocontintental's lorry park - very busy area for water voles this year.

Burrows in amongst the wire netting.

New latrine near where last week the diesel pooling was worst.

Water vole prints further along the ditch by Grocontinental.

The diesel released into the ditch by Grocontinental has almost dispersed and there are still latrines and burrows all the way up, which is a relief. Thanks to the Environment Agency for their help here. Interestingly, the burrows up near the metal bridge - right next to Grocontinental's lorry park - are constructed under wire netting but it doesn't seem to be any sort of impediment to the voles.

Another piece of good news is this latrine (second photo down) found in the Staggs Brook as it comes out of Whitchurch Country Park/Greenfields Nature Reserve. This colony seemed to be cleaned out last year by mink, so it's brilliant to know there's at least one female back in the area. You'd expect the population to refill from this end, Greenfields Rise direction, ie furthest away from the canal where the mink made their entry. There are still no water vole signs actually in the Park itself, and ironically the bend where I found the latrine is on a stretch of habitat that's yet again under threat from developers.

Postcard from Scotland

2011-04-24T09:52:00.001-07:00

Hares near Wamphray

Goldfinch and chaffinch

Dunnock

From a ditch in the same field where the hares were: spraint which I thought was mink, but on closer inspection turned out to be otter.

Plus add in a Daubenton's bat flying above the boating lake in Moffat Park on Thursday afternoon (didn't have my camera with me then).

Pollution

2011-04-17T11:57:00.000-07:00

Debbie's voles, from the Staggs Brook as it goes under the railway bridge near Homebase. This sighting is especially heartening as two years ago, after a good start to the year, this colony had mysteriously disappeared by late summer.

Vole-feeding at the back of Wayland Road.

Water vole latrine at the back of Wayland Road.

A less happy sight.

Discovered diesel coming into the ditch by Grocontinental, from out of a pipe under the lorry park. I've asked the Environment Agency to have a look as it's pooling round near a lot of water vole burrows/feeding/latrines. I imagine the voles will have to vacate the area till the oil disperses - hope they haven't got young in the burrows already. It may even mean voles are poisoned, I'm not sure. Any water contamination you spot should be reported immediately via the EA's 24 hour incident helpline (see link on right).

Rat and Water Vole Burrows

2011-04-12T11:56:00.000-07:00

Latrine right near the field entrance - obviously the voles are extending their territories.

Literally dozens of burrows now in the field off Edgeley Road. They are so neat they look as if they've been machine-cut, and it's easy to tell they're in use because of the nibbled grass round the edges and the clear entrance ways (old burrows tend to clog up with leaves and rubbish). Rat burrows, though a similar size, are not as tidy and tend to have heaps of soil outside.

Better Shrew Photos

2011-04-09T12:56:00.001-07:00

Coincidentally a friend of mine found a freshly dead water shrew out at Whixall, so here are some photos showing the animal detail. Note the silvery sheen on the dark fur in photo one, and typically pale ventral area also.

Sometimes A Photo Just Comes Together

2011-04-07T01:49:00.001-07:00

Lovely compliant peacock

Twilight rat - note the large sticking-up ears and the grey rather than brown fur.

Had a nice water vole sighting down at White Lion Meadow last night, but also spotted two rats, which I've reported to the excellent pest control officer at the council (a man who knows his voles). Fingers crossed the rats don't drive the voles away from this site, as seems to have happened in previous years.

Water Shrew!

2011-04-05T11:48:00.000-07:00

I appreciate it's the most rubbishy shot ever, but it does just about show the silvery shrew moving about below the surface, its tail and its back legs (you're looking at the blur in the very middle of the picture). Water shrews are dark-furred, but the bubbles trapped in their coat as they dive make them look light when viewed from above. The second photo shows location: by the railway bridge near Homebase. There are also water vole latrines and a feeding station on the left bank this evening.

Sharp Eyes Needed

2011-04-02T09:33:00.000-07:00

Plum blossom

Above and below: feeding and prints from across Grocontinental's lorry park.

Burrows, feeding and droppings all around this bridge.

Above and below: can you spot the poo? Click to enlarge the photo.

You really do need to look carefully sometimes to spot water vole signs. Having a camera with good optical zoom can help you pick out details on a far bank or the bottom of a too-steep-to-climb ditch. But these signs above show w-v presence along the whole length of the ditch in the field by Grocontinental, from Edgeley Road right up to the first metal bridge, and then over the lorry park into the stretch there.

First Sighting of 2011 at White Lion Meadow

2011-04-01T12:01:00.000-07:00

Useless photo, but I post it because it's a nice positive landmark when the water voles come back to the main town car park. A sighting too off Edgeley Road, later on.

And a Video

2011-03-27T12:43:00.000-07:00

Some Good Views of Voley Features

2011-03-27T12:08:00.000-07:00

Rounded noses, broadish rumps, small ears, black feet.

Back in Business

2011-03-25T11:22:00.000-07:00

Not a great photograph, but clear enough!

One or two droppings is all it takes to prove water vole presence at the back of Waylands Road (below)

Latrine on the brick under the railway bridge near Homebase. This shows that Debbie's voles are back.

Rat at White Lion Meadow, unfortunately - has been reported to the council. No sightings of water voles here as yet but they're definitely about on this site because every day there are fresh starry prints in the mud.

Just to add: was lucky enough a few days ago to see a water shrew in the field off Edgeley Road. Now they can move fast.

The Wrong Voles

2011-03-20T04:56:00.000-07:00

Early small tortoiseshell.

Burrow behind Edward German Drive. Below, four burrows in the field off Edgeley Road. They're so neat they look as if they've been cut out with a length of pipe. For scale, think Pringles tube.

Prints at White Lion Meadow. I've left them small to show scale, but you can click to enlarge.

Three droppings and some pawprints at the road end of Edward German drive.

It's not completely clear but I'm fairly sure this is a degraded latrine, by the railway bridge near Homebase.
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Yet more signs: lots of footprints at White Lion Meadow, stacks of burrows in the field off Edgeley Road, burrows and droppings at Edward German Drive, and a latrine at the railway bridge by Homebase. I set up my camping stool yesterday afternoon to see if I could record my first vole sighting of the year and I sort of did - a wee field vole popped up beside me, trotted about, then vanished down the bank into the water. You can tell the species apart not just by size (baby w-vs are a similar size to f-vs) but because f-vs move in such a nervous, jerky way. W-vs, as long as they don't know you're watching, tend to amble and bumble about - though they can move like lightning when they need to!

Country Park 2011

2011-03-13T11:58:00.001-07:00

Dead and desiccated juvenile common newt, from our garden pond.

Buzzard
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Male chaffinch

Otter spraint under the concrete bridge.

Tons of spawn!
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I'll be keeping a very close eye on Greenfields Nature Reserve (the country park) this year because last summer the water voles here disappeared due to mink predation. I have no idea whether either mink or voles will return. There are no signs of either yet, though there's plenty of otter spraint under the bridge.

There are also dozens of active frogs in the pond created a couple of years ago by the Whitchurch Water Vole Group and, along with the frogs, bucketfuls of spawn.

An Old Friend, and an Opportunity

2011-03-12T09:25:00.000-08:00

The blackbird that lives by White Lion Meadow (Tesco)

Fresh water vole droppings in the ditch by Grocontinental.

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.

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.

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 ).

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.

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

When Voles Grow Wings

2011-03-07T09:53:00.001-08:00

Moves like a vole, is brown as a vole, but isn't a vole.

The ditch near Grocontinental, featuring...

...a latrine by the bridge

I'm sure these are water vole prints and not rat - White Lion Meadow
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It's still too cold to go out watching for water voles, but the evening was so nice I couldn't stay indoors so went in search of field signs. There are water vole footprints at White Lion Meadow (near Tesco), another latrine in the ditch by Grocontinental, and new burrows at Edward German Drive and the field off Edgeley Road.

Thought I'd had my first sighting of the year! - but it turned out to be this wren. I can't tell you how many times I've confused wrens and voles, given they're often found in the same location and creep about in the same way. I've even seen wrens come out of vole holes. Most annoying.

Putting out the Welcome Mat

2011-02-28T08:13:00.001-08:00

Construction going on in the same field as the water voles. Council planners have stipulated the work must not come any closer to the bank than ten metres.

Ditch with piece of wood thrown in.

But closer inspection of the plank reveals a latrine. It's always worth checking floating junk if you think water voles might be in the vicinity.
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Water vole footprints further down the ditch, towards Grocontinental
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It's helpful when the first latrines appear, because colonies don't always stay in the same place from year to year so it can take a few weeks for me to work out where best to set up my camera. And there's no surer sign of water vole activity than droppings - it's like the animal's putting out its front door mat.

The water voles in the field near Grocontinental seem to wake up earlier than the ones just across the railway line, so there are three latrines in this ditch already and I'm hoping to get my first vole sighting here next month. However, Grocontinental are busy with some building work not far away, so I hope the brook stays uncontaminated and undisturbed.

Des Ong's Lovely Voles

2011-02-22T11:01:00.001-08:00

Active already, apparently! For more gorgeous water vole photos, go to desong.co.uk

Anxious Year Ahead

2011-02-22T08:18:00.001-08:00

One of the frogs in my pond gearing up to breed.

Water vole footprints on the Edgeley Road side of the field near Grocontinental

Latrine from the same ditch

This should be a happy time - first proper field signs appearing, and spring getting ready to unfurl. But this year will be the one where the council decides whether to re-designate two wildlife-important fields from their current 'green space' status to 'for development'. It shouldn't even be a consideration.

Because not only does this have catastrophic implications for the water voles, it's extremely serious for the people of the town, too.

Currently this very marshy land soaks up water like a giant sponge. It's a natural storage or holding tank for the surrounding area. However, if these fields were to be drained and concreted over, and additional water from new household or industrial use added to our natural, often torrential levels of rainfall, the likelihood of many Whitchurch homes flooding looks like a cert.

And anyway, what developer would want to go to all the expense and time of getting in ecological experts to assess the land, trap all the voles, keep the voles safe while the houses are built, have ecological experts guide the developer to reinstate the water course to a standard where it was suitable for the voles to return? Which of course would have to be done by law.

I absolutely can't imagine a less suitable place for building. So you have to hope commonsense prevails here!

Reading the banks

2011-02-08T06:15:00.000-08:00

Field off Edgeley Road, location of burrow/slipway photos below.

Erosion reveals this old burrow in horizontal cross section.

Slipways or trackways running into the water from burrows.

Occupied burrow

Droppings at the railway bridge by Homebase, but are they rat or w-v? Both animals tend to make use of this handy brick!
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Still a few weeks too early for real signs to emerge, I'd have thought, though a fortnight of days as warm as today would wake the water voles up I'm sure. But even in the absence of breeding latrines and ostentatious feeding stations it's not too hard to see where the w-vs have been active. There are occupied burrows, for instance, with nibbled grass round the outsides, and lots of slipways into the water. Have to say, though, these don't always come out so clearly in photographs; they're actually more obvious in the field.

Field Voles 2011

2011-01-17T06:39:00.001-08:00

My wood mice gearing up for spring.

Field vole droppings - note tiny scale.

Field vole feeding station.

Prints: could be rat or water vole
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At last a break in the rain, so I took a quick peep at White Lion Meadow and the field near Grocontintental. Everywhere's looking pretty sorry for itself: WLM is full of litter and the water level's quite high, but there were these prints just under the bridge and a rat/water-vole size run. Are they rat or vole? I can't decide, but worth keeping an eye on as this is where I saw a w-v nesting last spring.
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As for the ditch by Grocontinental there are some likely-looking burrows but nothing obviously w-v as yet. There were field vole latrines and feeding, however, which I post for comparison - f-v signs are a much smallerscale than w-v. (Think N gauge rather than OO, model railway enthusiasts.)

New Season

2011-01-03T09:50:00.001-08:00

One of Terry Whittaker's fantastic videos to keep us going till the spring.

Matted reeds forming a protective carpet

Bank full of water vole burrows

Grazing round a burrow entrance

Typical vole-cut leaf
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Took a look at my nearest colony today not expecting to see much - ground too hard for footprints, there won't be latrines yet - but actually there was a fair bit of feeding and the burrows are obviously active, open and clear, often with grazing round the entrances. Surrounding the stream is a wide area of matted reed, perfect for hiding voles of all species, and I only had to part a few random stems to find whole networks of runs. It's a critical element of the site for these voles as the stream's so shallow there are no banks to speak of.

Merry Christmas from a busy bird feeder

2010-12-25T03:50:00.000-08:00

Voles will be back in the spring, we hope.

Cold Autumn Skies

2010-11-24T06:09:00.001-08:00

Nuthatch

Great Tit

Blue Tit

And a busy busy bird feeder. As well as the above we get long tailed tits, jackdaws, greater spotted woodpeckers, rooks, collared doves, wood pigeons, wrens, stacks of house sparrows and starlings, dunnocks, greenfinches, chaffinches, goldfinches, siskins, pied and grey wagtails, blackbirds, fieldfares, robins and sparrowhawks. While obviously none of these is rare, numbers of certain species (eg sparrows) are down and need all the help they can get.

The Importance of Log Piles

2010-11-12T06:39:00.001-08:00

Everything but the bird feeder seems to have quietened down with the cold weather. However, a gentle poke around our very modest garden log pile turned up this frog, hunkering down for winter (you can be sure I covered him up again). The logs were packed with invertebrates, too. Lots of amphibians shelter underneath planters and in stone walls/brick piles. It's best not to be too tidy if you like your wildlife.

Deadly Enemy

2010-10-24T06:34:00.001-07:00

Took a walk round Whitchurch Country Park, checking the bridge for signs of otter, water vole or mink. There was nothing at all, only very possibly a tiny bit of w-v feeding, but it could have been field vole. Just outside the park, however, there was mink scat on the kerb stone of the canal by the lift-up bridge. This isn't great news.

It's my sincere hope that the Wildlife Trust will put some system in place whereby mink are prevented from coming onto the reserve off the canal. Otherwise the water voles in this area - if they come back after this year's massacre - seemed doomed again.

End of the Season Vole

2010-09-30T10:37:00.000-07:00

Bye till the Spring!

Burrow leading directly into the water.

Small feeding station.

Latrine.

Classic starry footprint.

Multiple prints - look a lot like rats', but the droppings give it away that these are water vole.

It's becoming too cold to sit and wait for voles to come out, so this will probably be the last w-v photo of the season. I thought I'd round off with some pictures of the main field signs, courtesy of the colony off Edgeley Road.

2010 hasn't been a bad year generally for water voles in Whitchurch, though the Country Park's suffered a population crash due to predation by mink. I don't know how long this stretch will take to recover; a lot depends on how healthy the colonies are on either side. I'll be watching carefully next spring and summer to see what happens.

White Lion Meadow Update

2010-09-21T11:14:00.001-07:00

Feeding at Edward German Drive - slanted chewed-off stalks.

Feeding at White Lion Meadow.

White Lion Meadow in October 2010

When I began this blog, it was mainly to chart the fortunes of the water voles who lived by the main town car park, an area known as White Lion Meadow. Back in December 2007, the brook looked like this: http://1.bp.blogspot.com/_1aMLXVhB_OQ/RZUMjokTJ3I/AAAAAAAAABI/EgpZVW9xf9g/s1600-h/brookbridge.jpg However, it's become increasingly overgrown which means it's been a lot harder to spot whether the voles are there or not. For this reason I early on broadened the scope of the blog to look at other colonies around north Shropshire, concentrating on Whitchurch and Whixall. This year I've focused mainly on the fields adjacent to Edgeley Road, a colony which is particularly strong, and one that's critical to the overall health of the Whitchurch water vole meta-population.

However, a quick check tonight reveals at least some feeding going on at WLM, and I think it is water vole rather than field vole. There's feeding too along Edward German Drive, and burrows and slipways, so the signs are that colony has done OK this year.

Debbie's Voles- Update

2010-09-18T10:08:00.000-07:00

Latrine

Just this V shaped nibble is a water-vole giveaway.

Below, two feeding stations.

I've posted before about my friend Debbie's water voles, the ones that live by the railway bridge near Homebase: http://staggsbrook.blogspot.com/search/label/railway%20bridge%20by%20Homebase . Now, because it's coming to the end of the year, I've been doing a tour round of known colonies and it's cheering to see the ones here obviously still doing well. A few hundred yards further up is the Black Park Road colony, also fine.

The guinea pig is Debbie's too, and I post it because I was struck by how similar the general blunt shape of the face is to a water vole's. This is a useful comparison when trying to explain to people how water voles are very much not rats. (Guinea pig droppings are also very simlar to water voles' - can be a handy reference point if you're training up surveyors!)

Hugh the Hedgehog Man

2010-09-16T10:50:00.001-07:00

Me with a bit of field vole feeding

Hugh

Fun day out meeting Hugh Warwick, hedgehog-enthusiast and journalist http://www.urchin.info/ and author of the charming book A Prickly Affair: My Life with Hedgehogs. It had been raining all morning and, though I'd told him with supreme confidence we'd be tripping over field signs, when we got to the field we found that all the latrines and most of the feeding stations had been washed away. The place I normally sat to watch for voles was under water.
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So we set up camp on a different, drier stretch, and had barely unfolded the camp stool when a water vole appeared and fed very near us, followed by another ambling further up the bank. I think the rising water levels had actually worked in our favour because the burrows were probably unusable in the short term, forcing the voles up onto the surface.

Advantages and Disadvantages of Flash

2010-09-12T11:51:00.001-07:00

September sky

Droppings

Water vole footprints
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I know what I am in terms of photography: enthusiastic and persistent. I just point and shoot and leave the automatic settings to do the rest. When light levels are low, do I use flash or not? The clarity's so much better with than without, but you do get that 'evil eye' effect. Surprisingly, the voles don't seem to mind the flash going off in their faces.

Look Right, Look Left

2010-09-10T06:29:00.000-07:00

Fewer sightings at this time of year, but the voles are still active.

Watchful

2010-09-03T08:04:00.000-07:00

This water vole knows I'm watching, I think - she keeps raising her head and sniffing the air. (I'm assuming it's a female because this is probably her latrine she's standing on.)

Saddlers Walk: Masses of Water Voles

2010-09-02T02:32:00.001-07:00

Two (fighting) voles in the field off Edgeley Road
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Below, water vole signs at the back of Queensway

The field at the end of Hatton Way, behind Queensway/Saddlers Walk. Ditch is at the treeline.
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Or I should say, masses of poo. I don't think I've ever seen so many latrines in such a short distance, so the ditch must be home to a lot of water voles (latrines mark territories of breeding females). Stacks of feeding, too. You'd be lucky to get an actual sighting here, though, as the vegetation's mad and the water scant, hardly enough to swim in even for a small vole. But it clearly suits the voles' requirements.

I make no apologies for posting all the photos I took because this field's being considered by Shropshire Council for development, and this is clearly another very important Whitchurch colony.

You in Your Small Corner

2010-08-27T08:35:00.001-07:00

Last year all my sightings in the field off Edgeley Road were based around one particular bend in the stream. This year, though there've been plenty of prints showing the voles are using the bend as a thoroughfare, there have been no signs that anyone's claimed it as a territory. Till this week, and a large latrine on the bank plus some feeding. I waited twenty minutes but didn't see anything, so moved down to the lower bend where I saw two voles fighting, and then down to another stretch where I watched what might have been nest-repair or -building. Strange how colonies shift up and down, so that a spot will be favoured one year, and abandoned another.

Country Park Concerns

2010-08-21T09:41:00.001-07:00

Field off Edgeley Road

There was a lot of water vole evidence at Whitchurch Country Park at the start and middle of the year, but I had a look last week and found very little that was definitive. True there were some burrows and 'vole-scaping' of the banks, but I could only find the one feeding station pictured above, and no latrines (the droppings in that photo belong to a field vole). No idea what this means, but I'll be keeping a close eye on the situation. There was some suspiciously minky-looking scat under the bridge last week, but the consensus seemed to be that it was on the small side and so probably belonged to a stoat. The otter spraint's still being deposited; otters (and stoats) would take water voles, but not in the devastating numbers that mink would.

Diet

2010-08-15T12:01:00.000-07:00

Adult

Juvenile - seems to be a warmer colour of brown than the adults

Shame this is out of focus, but it does show the pale underbelly of the vole quite well

Eating grass.

Eating apple.

Eating rosebay willowherb seeds. I normally post close-ups, but here's an adult vole from a distance, for scale.

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Just watched a water vole apparently munching the seeds from a rosebay willowherb. They're recorded as eating 227 different species of plant, plus very occasionally snails, crayfish and possibly frogs. One in captivity ate a bit of fish too, but that was a pregnant female vole who maybe needed extra protein.

The Most Important Site in Whitchurch?

2010-08-10T12:35:00.001-07:00

We've always felt at the Whitchurch Water Vole Group that Whitwater Fishery was probably the most important site for w-vs in the area.
http://staggsbrook.blogspot.com/search/label/Whitwater%20%28Hickory%20Hollow%29

But increasingly I'm wondering whether the field off Edgeley Road, where I've had almost all my sightings this year and last, is at least as important a colony - possibly even more so given the way it links other key sites. Although the stream's barely a dribble, the swampy grassland surrounding it is more holey than a Swiss cheese and you have to be really careful where you tread for burrows and trackways. There are latrines every couple of yards, and as I walked down one short length of the bank tonight I heard four separate voles plop into the water. The stream itself forms a kind of T shape and I've only explored the stem; currently the branches of the T are so overgrown that the banks are impenetrable. All the evidence suggests they're just as heavy with voles as the rest, though.

Here's a summary of my sightings from the last few months:

http://www.woodlanereserve.co.uk/edgeleyroadsummary.htm There've only been a handful of occasions I've been down to that field and seen nothing, so blanks on the chart just mean I wasn't around/was concentrating on another site.

Belling the Cat

2010-08-08T11:43:00.000-07:00

Spot the vole.

Took a walk up Edward German Drive and was dismayed to see not one but two cats sitting by water vole burrows. At least one of the cats had a bell round its neck, though. It's not an infallible deterrent, but it does help. Anyway, more encouragingly there were lots of runs and burrows and some feeding all the way along.

Two voles tonight: an adult (top) and probably that same juvenile as last time (bottom).

Squeak

2010-08-05T11:27:00.000-07:00

Juvenile

Squeaking adult
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I've only ever heard water voles vocalise during fighting, so it was a surprise to hear this large vole repeatedly squeaking at the juvenile one. I think it was an attempt to get it to back off from the apple, though in the past what's usually happened is that the lager vole just steams in and takes the food without a sound. The squeak was very high, almost like a piping bird.

Post script: a fellow vole fan on the Wild About Britain forum's just give me this link which features a 'piping' water vole audio clip: http://www.bbc.co.uk/nature/species/European_Water_Vole

Baby, Grown Up

2010-08-03T10:15:00.000-07:00

Adult

Half grown water vole. Is this the baby from a couple of weeks ago?

Three Voles and a Shrew

2010-08-01T07:26:00.000-07:00

Water vole droppings planted on a mole hill, near Grocontinental.

Very trampled latrine (click to enlarge) at the far end of the field from Grocontinental.

Delighted to report the colonies in the ditch near Grocontinental are also doing OK, though it's a struggle to get to them as the nettles and thistles are now shoulder height (great for insects and birds!).

Lots of water vole activity in the field off Edgeley Road. In fact I've never heard such a racket. The shrew I keep seeing is very dark on top and almost white underneath. Do water shrews eat shrimps? Because the stream is teeming with them.

Husband home from hospital!

2010-07-31T03:30:00.000-07:00

It's been a few weeks since I was able to get down to the field, but the voles are obviously doing well. Latrines everywhere, and two sightings within half an hour.

Rounded

2010-07-11T12:43:00.000-07:00

I may have chopped this vole's nose off, but there's a nice clear shot of the dark brown hairy tail. Sometimes tails are all you glimpse, so it's important to know the difference between a vole's and a rat's (greyish-pink and naked). The generally rounded shape to the vole's body is the other quick-spot giveaway.

Yum

2010-07-06T11:55:00.000-07:00

Voles are like Buses

2010-07-04T11:20:00.000-07:00

It's ages since I posted a latrine pic - so there you are. Don't say I never treat you.

Ringlet (I think)

Burnet moth

You wait for ages and then two turn up and once. An hour and nothing but a flash by my feet of what was either the baby water vole, or possibly a bank vole, I couldn't tell which. Then, just as I was about to pack up, two large adults came round the corner practically nose to tail. One carried on up the stream, and the other hung around and ate some apple.

View

2010-06-29T06:43:00.000-07:00

In-laws visiting hospital this afternoon, so I snatched half an hour by the brook to watch these two. It's tempting when taking photographs to cut the hanging grass away before you start, but I worry about removing precious cover for these much-predated animals. No good having a clear view if all your voles have been carried off by buzzards!