St George's Voles

 

Water vole teeth are orange because they are covered in special, strong enamel for digging and fighting.

grey wagtail

raven

common lizard

field 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.

The Llangollen Canal

 Bee fly. I love them.

 Definitely vole feeding. Water vole? Or field vole?

 This burrow is the right size for water vole.

I found myself on a stretch of the Llangollen canal past Ellesemere where I knew there was a history of water vole presence, so I stopped and had a look. The signs weren't quite as definitive as last time, but there were quite a few burrows of the right diameter - think Pringles tube - and some definite feeding. However, it's not just water voles who cut stems at 45%; field voles do too, and there were also field vole burrows. So this is a site to watch, I'd say.

Field Vole, Water Vole, Kingfisher

Thrilled to see this kingfisher on a pond behind Sainsbury's!

 Awful photo taken on my phone, but nice to have the sighting at White Lion Meadow car park.

 Field vole feeding station (too small for water vole)

Dead field vole, probably killed by a cat.

Edgeley Road water vole

The First Tentative Signs

 The brook at Black Park Road

  

The year's first water vole burrows, in the field off Edgeley Road

Field vole feeding and droppings.

Field Voles at Worthenbury

Quoted in the March edition of BBC Wildlife magazine!

Field vole - note the shortness of the tail

Above, excellent field vole habitat, and below, a latrine - each dropping is about the size of a grain of rice.

While We Wait for Water Voles

Kestrel, at Broxton

 A very green Brimstone

 Above, a wood mouse. Below, field (short-tailed) voles.

Hibernating snails

 Above, a common toad; below, just the nose of a common shrew.

Other Small Mammals

Family of field mice at Black Park Road.

Below, the back end of a field vole showing the shortness of the tail.

These burrows are in the right place for water vole, but they're too small. They're made by field voles, probably.

Belton Farm

Terrific habitat above - lots of cover and food for voles, silty stream-bed.

 



 Not so good for voles: stony stream-bed.

 

 

Three lots of nibbled snails. Who's eating these - field voles, water voles or rats?

 Trackway by the water's edge. It's a good idea to look here for prints and droppings.

 



 Edgeley Road vole

 

 Water vole 'lawn' round burrow entrance.

 

 Mallard nest

 

Very small frog

 

Lots of good signs on this morning's survey near Belton Farm, which is next to the large vole colony at Whitwater fishery. But not all the habitat is right for water voles as some of the banks are shaded and don't have enough vegetation, and not all of the stream has mud at its bottom (which water voles like to kick up as a screen to hide from predators). Lots of evidence of field voles, though.