Making Off

Feeding station at Black Park Road

Latrine

Juvenile mallard at White Lion Meadow - some of the chicks from http://staggsbrook.blogspot.com/2009/06/comedy-blackbirds.html obviously survived!
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There's plenty of activity still at Black Park Road, and down at White Lion Meadow the water channel has been swept a little clearer; maybe we'll have more sightings there soon.

Terry Whittaker's Blog

http://terrywhittakerphoto.blogspot.com/2009/07/not-something-you-see-everyday.html
More fantastic water vole photos here.

Even where there isn't much water

Two feeding stations

Latrine

This overgrown ditch, near Saddler's Walk, has very little water in it, but a quick peek showed plenty of water vole activity. The habitat's like that near Black Park Road http://staggsbrook.blogspot.com/search/label/Black%20Park%20Road , another apparently choked-up area of brook much favoured by w-vs.

Colemere

Tortoiseshell

Red Admiral

Dragonfly (Southern Hawker?) at Colemere

Burrow at Edward German Drive

Feeding at White Lion Meadow

Droppings at White Lion Meadow. Despite the light green colour, these were definitely water vole because of the size.

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Survey today at Colemere, near Ellesemere. Our group didn't find any water vole evidence, but we did see a toad, a field vole and a lot of dragonflies, butterflies and damselflies. Not sure yet how the other groups got on.

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On the way home I checked White Lion Meadow car park and found feeding and droppings, despite the downpours and fluctuating water levels of late. A stroll up Edward German Drive revealed several burrows (for scale, think of a Pringles tube) and some feeding.

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Update regarding the other survey groups' results, from Malcolm Monie's report: Some signs were found in and near the Roden itself in the Wolverley area, but at a low density. Upstream, the brook flowing out of Colemere was examined and despite good habitat, no water vole signs were to be found. A survey 3km farther downstream revealed just one site where a couple of burrows and possible water vole feeding signs were found, as distinct from field voles which were present on the same stretch.

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We think mink presence plus only intermittently suitable habitat are the key issues.

Prints

It's been a while since I've shown any water vole footprints, so here's a photo of some, plus a feeding station from the ditch near Grocontinental.

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While I was watching a vole on the bank opposite, I heard a rustling noise by my feet, looked down, and found a juvenile rat with its head in my bag! I said, 'Excuse me,' in my sternest voice, and it scuttled off. It's amazing how many things you see if you sit quietly for half an hour.

Sighting at White Lion Meadow

It's a while since we've had one, but the vole was balanced obligingly on top of vegetation in the middle of the brook. There's still very little water and bank visible under all the leaves, so I was lucky.

And your evening vole