A Tale of Two Voles

Watched this baby vole creep forward and sniff the apple, only to miss out then to a big adult that swept in and scooped up the goodies (fourth photo down). But the younger vole was right to be cautious, and it did manage to salvage a bit of leftover after the other had gone.

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A quick scoot round Black Park Road yesterday revealed loads of feeding stations, and when I followed the brook up to Yockings Gate that area now looks very promising, but it's private land so I couldn't get down to the banks and poke about. I had several sightings there in 2007, but that section was dug out fairly radically and has taken till now to recover.

Baby Vole

At last some shots of the baby water vole I was watching two evenings ago. Babies are less cautious than adults - an adult vole would have dragged this apple off to its burrow to eat out of sight. As it was, hanging grass meant that most of my shots were out of focus, which is a shame because it would have been nice to get him in silhouette. Baby voles have a distinctive shape, like an inverted comma, and are fuzzier than adults. This is my first ever shot of a juvenile.

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Also had another encounter with a larger vole which passed right under my toes (I was resting my feet on a raised plank of wood). Ironically when they're that close, they're impossible to photograph.

It's not just voles who nibble

A Large Skipper moth (I think)

Once again, admire the camouflage!

Watched a rabbit in the ditch near Grocontinental eating watercress: a reminder to myself that stripped cress doesn't necessarily mean the presence of water voles. As ever, it's the slanted cuts that tell you it's vole (and even then it could be field vole). However there are w-v latrines and lots and lots of feeding stations along this stretch which confirm the colony's still active.

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A real treat last night - a baby water vole in the field off Edgeley Road. No picture to share, unfortunately.

Whitwater, and Naughty Voles

As part of a training day, we took some volunteers and ecologists round the Whitwater fishing pool to look for water vole (and field vole) signs. The banks were full of water vole latrines, trackways and feeding, and in one place we found a big group of w-v burrows set well back from the water and looking almost like a rabbit warren. Whitwater may be Whitchurch's most important colony.

This evening I went to check the field by Edgeley Road and once again a water vole raided my bag while I was sitting next to it. No photograph as it was too close to focus! All the grass around me was rustling with voles eating, and I could hear the sounds of voles further down jumping into the water. The place must be heaving with them.

Tonight's Voles

Blending in

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Three voles at least tonight, possibly four. The first, shown in the top couple of photos, was in the field off Edgeley Road, and the others in the ditch next to Grocontinental.

Debbie's Voles

Good cover!

You can just see the beginning of the paler ventral fur.

My friend Debbie, who lives in a cottage near the bridge at Homebase, is lucky enough to have water voles practically on her doorstep. Here's one from this evening, a large adult with a scar on its nose. I'm especially pleased by this sighting because the last time I checked this spot, all I saw were rats.

Back After my Holiday

Two shots of the same Grocontinental vole

Latrine at Edward German Drive (near end)

Feeding station at Edward German Drive (far end)

Off Edgeley Road
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It was great to get back into the fields and see how the voles were getting on after my week's absence. Two sightings tonight, one off Edgeley Road and one near Grocontinental. Lots of signs up Edward German Drive, too.