Vole after my bag!

Otter spraint under the bridge, Whitchurch Country Park


Spraint in close-up

The tempting bag sitting next to my stool ...

Thief!
.

I've never experienced anything like it: heard a rustle at my feet, then a water vole pokes its head out of the brambles, sneaks up to my bag and starts trying to pull it down the bank! You can see from the picture how close it came to where I was sitting.
.
Later in the evening I went to the Country Park nature reserve and found three fresh otter spraints under the bridge.

.

A visit to Black Park Road on Tuesday, to check on the possible effects of the blue-green algae, was inconclusive. I couldn't find any latrines, but there was a bit of grazing. However, I did have a sighting of a water vole at White Lion Meadow, which is good news.