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The diary of a water vole colony
Labels
- adder (4)
- Ash (1)
- bank vole (6)
- barn owl (2)
- 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 (106)
- 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 (142)
- Feeding station (81)
- field off Edgeley Road (400)
- field vole (44)
- Fordhall Farm (2)
- gardening (3)
- Grange Farm Ash (2)
- Greenfields Rise (1)
- Griffiths Tool Hire (3)
- Grocontinental (2)
- habitat (2)
- hares (8)
- harvest mouse (4)
- hedgehog (31)
- kit (4)
- latrine (272)
- lawn (1)
- lizard (19)
- 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 (15)
- Prints (100)
- Quoisley Bridge (3)
- Raft (25)
- railway bridge by Homebase (42)
- rat (50)
- red squirrels (1)
- run (1)
- Saddlers Walk (23)
- Shropshire Wildlife Trust (4)
- Sighting (682)
- 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) (426)
- Whitwater (Hickory Hollow) (3)
- Whixall (6)
- Whixall Moss (21)
- 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
Blog Archive
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2007
(158)
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December
(9)
- Prints to end the year with
- Trolleys out again (well, they were at 10.30 this ...
- Had a really encouraging email from the new manage...
- Had an ID for the last set of Prees Branch canal p...
- Out on Whixall Moss
- And so it goes on
- And so it goes on
- More prints, more field voles
- The trolleys have gone from the brook at White Li...
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▼
December
(9)
3 comments:
Hi. My first visit to your brilliant blog. I've been interested in Water Voles for ages. Used to see them a lot as a child. I'm hoping our local brook has them... think I spotted the backside of one the other day. Tried to play some of your old videos but they wouldn't work.
We have otters in the centre of our local town of Wimborne, Dorset (and kingfishers) people just have no idea... I expect there are water voles as well. However we have paid deposit trolleys so no problem with them in the river. I will be back for another read. Thanks again. Jane
Cheers, Jane. I think it was Dorset I saw my very first water vole, as a child. We were on holiday and we'd stopped in a small town (none of can remember exactly which one) for my mother to use the loo. To get from the car park we had to cross a bridge. I glanced over, saw a vole on the bank and flatly refused to go on! In the end Mum had to leave me, with stern threats not to move or talk to any strangers. I watched the little animal for about fifteen minutes till she came back.
I do hope you have seen water voles. If there are otters then there won't be mink, which is good. And glimpsing the back end of one is a helpful view, because the tails (brown and furry, as opposed to pink and naked) are a give-away. Report them to your local wildlife group so they can pass the info onto the council maintenance and planning depts and to whoever's responsible for the waterways in your area.
Interesting what you say about trolleys! Still waiting for the manager of Tesco to get in touch, though the trolleys haven't been as bad since he arrived.
Sorry about the videos. They can take up to three minutes to crank up. :(
Ooh, lovely blog! I've got photos of otter spraint, too. Never seen an otter in the wild, though, unfortunately.
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