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.