Monday 14 May 2012

Another Carnivore Survey



Two voles just outside Greenfields nature reserve


Feeding with water vole droppings on top - quite unusual.


Burrow in the bank with another underwater entrance directly below.


Above, the bridge on Greenfields/Whitchurch Country Park where we found nine otter spraints, plus fox scat on the top.


Otter spraint


Speckled wood butterfly I rescued from the canal water

So lots of otter activity on this Greenfields survey, but we don't know how many individual animals produced that amount of spraint. Their main source of food so far (according to lab results) is stickleback, plus some ell.

Foxes will take water vole, but the scat we found didn't contain any obvious w-v remains.

Lots and lots of water vole burrows, latrines, feeding and a possible sighting on the day itself. This is a strong colony at the moment, though it's vulnerable to mink coming off the canal so we have to keep a close eye on it.

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