Bonus Vole

Another of John Harding's lovely photographs, to keep us going till the spring.

Christmas round-up

.

.

.

.

.

.

.

.

.

Tree-removal at White Lion Meadow.

A small feeding station under the pipe at White Lion Meadow.

Feeding by the pipe at White Lion Meadow.

Strimmed, but some cover left.

Over-strimming? No water vole signs here at the moment (there were plenty in the autumn).

A tiny amount of diesel in the water - ditch near Grocontinental.

Burrows and a slipway

Prints on the less-strimmed side of the ditch near Grocontinental. Rat prints are similar, but I think the star-shape indicates water vole as more likely.

So first, that tree work at White Lion Meadow. As I said in the comments of the previous entry, I'm fairly sure this opening up of the bank sides will be helpful to the voles. Yes, they did eat the willow leaves and pollen off the catkins, but there's another willow a few yards further up providing more than they can possibly consume. The main thing is, now the banks have more light, more cover and food will grow. And if you're going to do maintenance like this, then this time of year is good. I went down today and found fresh feeding up near the pipe, so there are still water voles active in this section.

.
Secondly, to this news report of a diesel spillage into a stream on the outskirts of Whitchurch: http://www.shropshirestar.com/2008/12/18/lucky-escape-in-lorry-crash/ . I know the stream mentioned, but we've never surveyed it so I don't know what kind of damage the diesel will have done, and I don't know where the stream leads. There's no trace of oil at WLM, and only a tiny bit in the ditch near Grocontinental. Either those sections don't meet up with the polluted stream, or the prompt action of the Environment Agency stopped the diesel in its tracks.

.

If you ever spot water pollution, especially near water voles or other fragile species, please contact the EA immediately via the link on the right hand side of this page.

.

Finally, I post these photos of the strimming work and water vole signs at the ditch in the field near Grocontinental. I would say one's been strimmed well, and the other over-strimmed. There's no water vole evidence at all, no prints or burrows or feeding, on the barer side. But on the other, where more vegetation's been left, there are active-looking burrows, vole-nibbled juncus, and footprints.

Spot's dinner?

I've never seen a water vole during December, but here's what looks like recent feeding I found just now while picking litter. A good sign, I think.

Water voles on tv tonight

Possibly. They're in the trailer, anyway.

http://www.bbc.co.uk/wildaboutyourgarden/

Looks like a good series!

What do water voles do in the winter?

A Cromford vole taken by John Harding last month

.

Water voles don't hibernate as such, but they do spend much more time underground during the winter months, eating food they've stored eg tubers. Field signs virtually disappear, and the White Lion Meadow banks seem deserted.

.

So this blog will, like the voles, go quiet till the spring, when I hope to bring you more news on the colonies round north Shropshire. Will Spot make it? Statistically, the odds are stacked against him - winter mortality rates are very high for water voles - but let's keep our fingers crossed, and hope he's back in the picture next February/March.

Scrub what I said about watercress

My, how you've grown

It's a while since I've seen Spot, and I can't get over how much he (or she) has grown. We're now talking proper adult size, which is about the length of a juvenile guinea pig. I note the activity's now switched to the other side of the bridge, which makes me wonder whether he's the only vole on this stretch at the moment, or whether he's invaded another vole's territory. I haven't seen another adult since mid-September, but there continued to be a lot of runs and burrows appearing which I'm pretty sure weren't made by Spot; he was a) too small and b) living up by the pipe during that month.