Peep

At this time of year the voles are still very nervous and I'm only getting quick glimpses. Plenty of burrows appearing, though!

On Radio 4 Extra

http://www.bbc.co.uk/programmes/b03ynp0m

Here I am on Mel Geidroyc's Four O' Clock Show on Radio 4 Extra, 17 minutes in. Later on in the programme you can hear another chapter in the excellent serialisation of Tom Moorhouse's The River Singers, a thrilling story of water vole adventures.

Vole Talk at Oswestry

If you're Shropshire-based and free tonight - Weds 19th, at 7.30 - and you'd like to hear more about water voles, come along!

http://www.shropshirewildlifetrust.org.uk/WhatsOn/events_pages/About+a+Brook 

Hello and Goodbye

 Water vole in the field off Edgeley Road

 Latrine at White Lion Meadow. Rosie Rees has seen a vole here too.

 Comma

 Brimstone

 Peacock

 Meadow pipit above, and below a goldcrest in the field off Edgeley Road

It's time to say goodbye to the foster hog we've been over-wintering in the shed. He's now 760g, which isn't a bad post-hibernation weight, and looked in good condition. I've seen three other wild hedgehogs in the garden too.

Burrow Bonanza!

 These burrows in this very top photo are a good distance away from the water course.

 Burrows are neat, often with grazing around the entrance, and can be on the top of the bank or in the wall of the bank or underwater. For scale, think Pringles tube.

Sometimes latrines are hard to spot!

Suddenly there are heaps of burrows in the field off Edgeley Road. It's all looking quite good for this colony.

And the First Photo

First Sighting of the Year!

 Reed bunting at Broughall and below, one of three skylarks in the same field

 Feeding station at Broughall

Insert vole here.

Always a thrill to spot the first water vole of the year. Too quick for me to catch with my camera, but he was swimming downstream in the brook which runs through the field off Edgeley Road. There are very few signs here as yet - no latrines and hardly any burrows - although in the past this has been a very strong colony. Areas of this stretch are still flooded, so I don't know how that's affected numbers. I'll keep watching.

Broughall Again

 Lapwings and crocuses

Below, latrines and prints

There were so many latrines along the ditch at Broughall I stopped counting. How many voles on this
stretch? It's very encouraging. There was also a flock of about sixty lapwings wheeling about and calling.