Fritillaries

Dark Green Fritillaries, Small Coppers and a Small Heath all at Earl's Hill.

 White Tail

 A variety of water voles at Edgeley Road: babies, juveniles and adults.

Numbers Steady

 Above, a selection of Edgeley Road voles.

Below, droppings and a latrine.

A White Lion Meadow vole last night, one of three.

Black Park Road

I've left it too late to do a proper survey on the Black Park Road part of the brook; the vegetation's almost impenetrable now. But where I could get down, I could see feeding and feeding stations. So there are obviously still water voles there. I'd love to be able to look at the banks upstream by Yockings Gate but that stretch is private.

It's that time of year...

...when water voles get very bold. It's to do with the population peaking.

Tiny Spot??

Last year, at Edgeley Road, I saw a litter of at least three baby voles with white flashes on their foreheads. I was hoping at least one of these had survived to breed, so imagine my delight this evening when, amongst the many voles I saw was this one (top). It didn't look like a fully-grown adult, so is this actually the offspring of one of the Spots? Or is there a genetic code in this colony that randomly assigns white spots? I've seen white spotted voles at White Lion Meadow and at Black Park Road too, which raises all sorts of questions about how far Whitchurch water voles travel, and by what routes. Edgeley Road spotty voles