Otter Presence Still

 

Above, otter prints from April 2025, and below a video capture of otters on the same spot, the field off Edgeley Road, from a couple of years ago. I've had several sightings here and on other occasions found spraint (otter poo). Even though it's a tiny water course, it's obviously used by otters quite often.

And now the first vole at Edgeley Road.

 Otter spraint at Wrenbury.

First Edgeley Road water vole of the year.

Return of the Otter

Starry feet.

Otter's back!

The Relative Sizes of Riparian Mammals

Otter Bottom

A surprise last night: this flash of full-grown adult otter disappearing upstream. I've seen otters before here, in Sept 2014 (previous otters) and twice over the years found their spraint, but I don't believe they use this tiny stream as anything other than a corridor. It's barely deep enough for an otter to paddle in, and only about two-otters-wide. Otters will take water voles but are too big to fit down the burrows in pursuit, so I'm hoping my little team will stay safe.

I've no idea whether this is related to the change in my voles' routines!

Two hedgehogs coming to the garden now.

Very fresh otter spraint in Whitchurch Country Park, plus a lot of dismembered frogs and toads.

Water voley prints from the Country Park

The relative sizes of a harvest mouse skull and a water vole skull.

So Much Activity!

What a fantastic surprise to see these two otters on the trail cam. I've never seen an otter in the wild; this is the closest I've ever got. It's amazing that they would use such a tiny ditch. But then the field's full of wildlife, and I have found spraint there twice before. Thrilled!

End of Season Round-up, Part 2

 Edgeley Road vole

 Droppings in the ditch near Railwayman's Cottage (by Homebase)

 Droppings at Edward German Drive

 Otter spraint and prints at Whitchurch Country Park (Greenfields)

Nice mural by the canal!

I never see much after October, so these may be the last vole photos of 2014. However, the colonies mostly appear to be holding their own. There's some activity at Edward German Drive (though perhaps not as much as in previous years), while the voles at Railwayman's Cottage are thriving. I'm afraid I can't tell what's happening at the country park as the vegetation's so thick I can't get near the banks. There's good otter presence, though, so fingers crossed the voles are also doing OK.

Meanwhile a big cheer is in order for the Environment Agency who have done a detailed study of the Staggs Brook as it goes through town so that they can manage the banks for flood risk without in any way harming the water voles. It's a brilliant effort. I'd say the signs are hopeful for Spring 2015.

The Mustelid Contingent

Stoat

Water vole

Adult rat - the relative sizes

It was a surprise to pick up this stoat on the trail cam. This makes the fourth mustelid I've seen in the field (if you count finding otter spraint as a 'sighting'). I've also seen weasels and a polecat here. All these predators will eat water voles, but because they're native and in the balance, vole numbers stay buoyant. The worry is if mink invade, because they are non-native carnivores and can wipe out whole colonies of water voles in a matter of weeks.

Hedgehog Time!

 Otter spraint above, and below some otter prints from Whitchurch Country Park (Greenfields)

Water voles prints (I hope), also from the country park.

Put the trail cam out last night on a hunch, and got the year's first hedgehog footage. The one in the shed's still asleep, but this wild one was eating hungrily all night. I'm pleased to say that when it turned round, it was Rainbow, the hog who lives across the road.

Good Practice, Bad Practice

 White Lion Meadow strimming - good practice as only alternative banks have been cut and only in short stretches

 White Lion Meadow vole presence

 Waylands Road strimming - very poor practice as the entire stretch has been done from the railway bridge down to Waylands Close, leaving the water voles there with no food or cover.

 Black Park Road - nothing touched, water vole bliss.

 Water vole feeding at Black Park Road.

 Otter spraint at Black Park Road.

Two juvenile Edgeley Road water voles

To our dismay, the banks along the Staggsbrook by Waylands Road have been stripped of cover and we're trying to find out who's done it so it won't happen again. In the same week, the banks at White Lion Meadow have been tidied in an exemplary fashion, so whoever's responsible for this deserves a pat on the back. Here are some ideas for landowners and councils on the right way to strim vegetation back in areas where water voles are present: http://www.durhamwt.co.uk/what-we-do/current-projects/water-vole/habitat-management-for-water-voles/

Update - see above. It's the Environment Agency who are responsible, and there turns out to be a lot more of it! Many thanks to Shropshire Council for helping me track down who did it.

Meanwhile I'm happy to report that the Black Park voles and the ones by the railway bridge at Homebase - on the Railway Cottage side of the road - are doing well, going by the number of feeding signs and latrines.