More on this ditch

A water vole from the London Wetland Centre (picture copyright Laurence Arnold)

The ditch on the other side of the culvert - stacks of feeding here.

Great spotted woodpecker drilling a telegraph pole

Goldfinches

A fresh water vole dropping

I had a sighting here yesterday afternoon, though it was only a flash because this ditch - like everywhere - is lush with vegetation which keeps the voles safe from prying eyes. There's a lot going on in this field: I heard the goldfinches and the great spotted woodpecker before I saw them.

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Because my own voles are proving so tricky to photgraph at the moment, I've asked permission from Laurence Arnold to post a few of his superb photos on this blog. All Laurence's pictures were taken at the London Wetland Centre: http://www.wwt.org.uk/centre/119/London.html , where next month a Water Vole Symposium is going to be held: http://www.environmentjob.co.uk/index.cfm?page=viewad&ad=15836&title=Environmentjob.co.uk%20posting%3A%20Event%3A%20Water%20Vole%20Symposium .

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Water voles feature in all the regional wetland centres: http://www.wwt.org.uk/text/703/.html so if there are no wild voles near you, you could always take a trip to one of these nature reserves.