A peep under the bridge at White Lion Meadow (the main town car park by Tesco) reveals a lot of rodent activity under the bridge. There are certainly rat prints here, and mouse, but I'm moderately confident that some of these are water vole because of their starry shape. The two pawprints directly under the twig in the centre of the second photo look likely, for example.
The banks on this stretch of the brook are deep enough to keep the voles safe even if the water level rises a few feet, as long as they stay in their burrows and don't try to swim in the strong current.
Happy Christmas and New Year to you Kate.
ReplyDeleteOur river is very high and fast at the moment (and has burst it's banks in a few places).
But despite this, the water voles are still active and yesterday I saw one swim several metres across a very fast stretch with no difficulty.
So hopefully they can hang on till next years breeding season.
How encouraging! Let's hope 2013 sees numbers back up to normal, and beyond.
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