Good Practice, Bad Practice

 White Lion Meadow strimming - good practice as only alternative banks have been cut and only in short stretches

 White Lion Meadow vole presence

 Waylands Road strimming - very poor practice as the entire stretch has been done from the railway bridge down to Waylands Close, leaving the water voles there with no food or cover.

 Black Park Road - nothing touched, water vole bliss.

 Water vole feeding at Black Park Road.

 Otter spraint at Black Park Road.

Two juvenile Edgeley Road water voles

To our dismay, the banks along the Staggsbrook by Waylands Road have been stripped of cover and we're trying to find out who's done it so it won't happen again. In the same week, the banks at White Lion Meadow have been tidied in an exemplary fashion, so whoever's responsible for this deserves a pat on the back. Here are some ideas for landowners and councils on the right way to strim vegetation back in areas where water voles are present: http://www.durhamwt.co.uk/what-we-do/current-projects/water-vole/habitat-management-for-water-voles/

Update - see above. It's the Environment Agency who are responsible, and there turns out to be a lot more of it! Many thanks to Shropshire Council for helping me track down who did it.

Meanwhile I'm happy to report that the Black Park voles and the ones by the railway bridge at Homebase - on the Railway Cottage side of the road - are doing well, going by the number of feeding signs and latrines.