Tuesday, 12 April 2011

Rat and Water Vole Burrows



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.

4 comments:

Anonymous said...

Kate,
I had a feeding Water Vole today whilst fishing a pool at Coton (farm opposite Coton Oaks - Robert Huxley's).
I think it was feeding on Yellow Flag.
There is a stream running adjacent to the farm track which is presumably used by Water Voles.
I have reported the sighting to Malcolm Monie.
Howard Prince.

Kate said...

Fantastic! Thanks for letting us know.

Stefanie Woo said...

Hi,

I am an MSc Species Identification and Survey Skills student at the University of Reading. I am going to do a presentation on water vole survey and mitigation and I would like to use the pictures of water voles and water vole burrows on your blog, if allowed. I am therefore writing to ask for royalty free permission to use these photographs (I will credit you both under the photographs and in the reference). I will greatly appreciate it if the permission is granted.

Thank you very much for your kind attention. I am looking forward to your favourable reply.

Yours faithfully,
Stefanie Woo

Kate said...

Yes, absolutely. It's one of the reasons I started this blog, so that images of field signs could be shared more widely. Thanks for asking, and yes, a credit would be appreciated.