Weasel

Went just now to check on the Edgeley Road voles and spotted this little chap. It's the first time I've ever seen a weasel in the wild. Weasels would take water voles, but they're part of the natural UK predator-prey balance (unlike non-native mink which can wipe out a w-v colony). So I felt thrilled and privileged to see him.

Not for the Squeamish - Life and Death at Greenfields

 Celandine is out

 We lost count of the water vole burrows at Greenfields reserve. Each hole is about the diameter of a Pringles tube.

 Typically starry water vole prints under the concrete bridge. We also found two otter spraints here.

 Water vole droppings up by the viewing point.

My brilliant litter picker - the best piece of voling equipment I possess.When vegetation's chopped into substantial lengths like this, there's no confusion with daintier field vole feeding. This is definitely water vole.

 One of about a dozen dismembered frogs we found along a 150m stretch inside the reserve. Otter?

 Couldn't resist this picture of my own garden frogs and spawn. 7 clumps so far.

 Water vole prints along Edward German Drive.

 'Vole-scaping' of the banks at Edward German Drive.

 Fairly sure this is a water vole print at White Lion Meadow, near Tesco. However there are a lot of rats here so it's sometimes hard to be sure.

Renewing my water vole platform as last year's rotted in the water and fell apart. It's a length of thin board with four pieces of dowel screwed into the corners so as to provide a bit of anchorage against the bank. On the top side is a short nail (covered here with a bit of plastic for safety) on which I can stick a piece of apple: this is an experiment. In previous years some unsporting voles have nabbed their apple slices and swum off immediately, so my hope is this year's voles might hang around while they have their photos taken.

Still Waiting

Water vole starry footprints

  

Neatly trimmed water vole burrow, about the diameter of a Pringles tube.

Common newt in my pond

We're still getting frosty mornings here so the frogs are holding off on spawning and I've still only seen one water vole latrine yet. Plenty of vole paw prints, though, and new burrows appearing every day. So I hope the first sighting isn't too far away now.

A Sight to Gladden the Heart

I can't decide which is lovelier, the open crocuses or the establishing of a proper water vole latrine on the sandbank where I found the droppings. Once latrines are up and running, I know where to site my camera to get the first vole footage of the year.

Gearing Up

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

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.

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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

 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.