Shy

The voles have definitely been shyer this last fortnight. I suspect a predator myself - that stoat, maybe - but nevertheless there's still a fair amount of activity about.

Ticking Over

Everything seems to have settled down now, and there are plenty of latrines again. I still feel numbers are slightly below previous years', though.

In More Hopeful News

I waited around a lot and did see this juvenile over two days, plus an older vole further up the stream. They seem shyer than normal, though. I still suspect it's the stoat who's rattled them.

Concerned

In spite of the photos above, I've been concerned this last week that there has been a drop in water vole numbers at one particular site, and in fact I've had three days where I've seen nothing at all. I haven't spotted any sign of mink but there is quite a lot of stoat scat about, and I've had a couple of trail cam clips. So as soon as this rain stops, I'll go back out and have a really good look to try and work out what's going on. Stoats are native predators, therefore they shouldn't be a problem, but I suppose if there's been a big enough explosion in the population this year then that might have reduced water vole numbers severely.