Coming to the End of the Voling Season

Droppings tell me there's regular vole traffic on this stretch.

Getting very few sightings now, though a vole came up last night and sniffed my boot. The trail cam shows that the water voles are mainly nocturnal at the moment, which is a usual pattern. One of the video clips shows a bank vole: I include it to show the relative size against the water vole. (Ignore the date stamp, which keeps re-setting itself to the wrong time.)

This blog will, as usual, go into semi-hibernation now, although I'll post if I see anything interesting. Otherwise, see you in the Spring!

The Relative Sizes of Bank and Water Vole

 Bank vole (length of tail's the giveaway - field vole tails are much shorter)

Water vole

September Voles

Bank vole

The water vole activity remains stubbornly nocturnal, though there've been no more otter sightings or particular signs of other predators. Video footage shows the colony's as busy as ever.

Meanwhile this dead bank vole was left on our drive by a cat, and I post the photo because it's useful to get a really good close look at the features which make it identifiable. Nose blunt and ears small = vole, no question. But it's too small for a water vole, which means (on mainland UK) either bank-vole or field-vole. So then you check the tail and here it's just over 50% of body length, which makes it definitely bank vole; in field voles the tail is much shorter. In fact sometimes field voles are called 'short-tailed voles'. There are subtle differences in fur colour and texture too, with bank voles being a little redder than their greyish cousins. Tail's the main identifying factor, though.

Still No Voles, but...

I'll be honest, I'm starting to get a bit worried. This time last year I'd had my first water vole sighting, and the banks were full of burrows and prints and the first latrines were appearing. So far this year all I've seen are a couple of possible burrows and maybe a print.

Then again, this time last year I'd had hedgehogs in the garden already for a month, whereas it's only two nights ago they returned to the garden. So I'm hoping it's just down to the cold weather. The hog above is one I marked last year when he was only a juvenile, and it's Y-Boy. He seems a good size and in decent condition post-hibernation.

The sad rodent picture at the bottom is a mystery mammal I found in the bin where I store my bird food. There's at least one other still alive and at large, and they're a golden-orange colour with quite pointed noses, about half the size of a wood mouse. Debate among wildlife friends boils down to whether it's a juvenile bank vole or a harvest mouse. I've kept the body and I'm going to see if I can extract the skull cleanly for proper ID. If it did turn out to be harvest house, that would be astonishing.

Bank vole masquerading

Here's this fine fat female water vole in the top photo, then in the picture underneath a wee bank vole, both from the same ten yard stretch of stream - in fact the bank vole is right next to a water vole latrine. But it was impossible to confuse them. Even though their fur colour is similar (field voles are greyer), the bank vole's movements are super-quick and jerky, completely different to the waddling water vole. W-vs can move very fast when threatened, but if they feel secure then their gait is quite leisurely.

Small mammals on Whitchurch nature reserve.

Field vole.

Bank vole - slightly browner coat, slightly longer tail.

Wood mouse.

A closed trap usually means there's something inside.

Carefully separating the two chambers. The animal can be in either the front or the back one.

Bait and bedding used.

Release! (Always into the same area where the mammal was found.)

Small-mammal survey at Whitchurch County Park (Greenfields Nature Reserve). The Longworth humane traps yielded seven out of ten positive results: three bank voles, three wood mice and a field vole, though at Whitwater fishery there were also shrews and a toad!

The traps were baited with moist apple, carrot and raisins and peanuts, and also casters which you need in case a shrew enters the trap. Soft grass and mossy bedding is added to keep the animal warm. The traps are put out the first night and left open, then set the second night and checked early the following morning. Longworth traps separate into two chambers: separation is done carefully over a bucket so the mammal can be contained whilst its species is checked.

Lots of small-mammal captures mean a healthy ecology so it was great to see so many on the reserve. I was especially interested to compare the field vole and bank vole as they're very similar in size and shape.

Handy tick list added later after discussion with friends on the Wild About Britain website:

Field vole (top)

short tail (1/3 body length),
grey/light brown coat,
ears tucked in behind long shaggy hair,
long shaggy hair on back

Bank Vole (bottom)

Long tail (1/2 body length),
redish brown/grey coat,
ears stick out
Tidy fur
Partially larger eyes

Both are evolved to fit their separate niche in the environment.

(Many thanks to Dogghound for this.)

Other voles are available

Spotted this very tiny chap at White Lion Meadow - the bottle in front is a Tango bottle, so that gives an idea of scale. Much much smaller than a water vole. I'm told by, my friend at Wild About Britain, that this is a bank vole because it's darker than a field vole and its ears aren't quite as much on show.
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Note a bit of vole-cut grass - possibly water vole - right in front of the bank vole's nose.