First baby of the year!

June 5, 2013, 12:09 am

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 Baby water vole

 Adults for comparison

A lot of vole traffic yesterday - at least two adults but I suspect more, plus this very appealing baby. The colour hasn't come out well in the photo, but young water voles are darker than the adults - plain chocolate-coloured - and much rounder, like a squashed pom pom. They leave the nest at just over three weeks, so I'm guessing this one is about a month-to-five weeks old.

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Mossfields and Black Park Road

June 7, 2013, 12:32 pm

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 Edgeley Road vole

 Above: burrow, feeding and droppings at Mossfields.

 Latrine at Black Park Road

I went to check on the colony at Mossfields, which is the field at the back of Saddler's Walk, and was pleased to count more burrows than I've ever seen before on that site. Clearly a lot of water vole activity along the whole stretch.

Black Park Road was a more mixed story, as some vegetation had been removed and I think the lower stretch was too bare to be much use to voles; however the section between the metal bridge and Yocking's Gate looked like great habitat and, sure enough, there was a latrine on top of a stone right by the public footpath. I also spotted two kestrels while I was there, and sent the record off to http://www.kestrelcount.org/

Males and Females

June 11, 2013, 1:37 pm

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 Droppings ALL OVER this pallet. Whoever lives here is making a statement.

Baby blackbird in our garden.

I've never handled a water vole so have no experience of sexing them - if they're anything like dormice and bank voles, then the method of telling males and females apart is to gauge the distance between the anus and genital opening, two tiny holes fairly close together, so potentially tricky. There's certainly no obvious way to tell a water vole's gender as it swims past or eats a stalk of grass.

However, if the animal is seen topping up a big latrine, it's likely to be female as males' latrines are smaller and there aren't as many. I've also read that males have a bit more of a ruff around their necks, though it's a subtle distinction. Anyway, on this latter premise I think the top three photos are a lady vole and the three below a chap. 

Kate Humble and me

June 12, 2013, 1:40 am

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A moment away from voles: I was thrilled last week to interview Kate Humble about her new book Humble By Nature, which tells the story of how she and her husband became first smallholders, and then owners of an amazing farm which hosts educational and community courses. You can read about it on the farm's website here: http://www.humblebynature.com/news/

The event was sold out, Kate was brilliantly entertaining and frank, and everyone had a great time. Big thanks to Booka, Oswestry's fab independent bookshop, for organising the event. http://www.bookabookshop.co.uk/

Stinkhorns and Councils

June 23, 2013, 1:23 am

≫ Next: Back at Wybunbury

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 My first stinkhorn! The smell is truly unbelievable.

 Juvenile house sparrow which flew into my lounge and then started squaring up to its own reflection.

 Gold Swift moth at Iscoyd Park. Males smell of pineapple, apparently! 

 Toad at Wem Moss.

 Small Copper, Wem Moss.

Two Edgeley Road voles. 

 A glimpse of a water vole at Greenfields Rise, so outside the Country Park.

 Sensitive strimming at White Lion Meadow car park by the council - a good margin of cover left for the voles.

 We've had some sightings at the car park, but this latrine would tell us there's vole presence anyway.

More Edgeley Road voles, to finish.

An appreciative shout out to councils, including north Shropshire, who manage riparian areas with regard to wildlife. There was a time when contractors would strim the vegetation too far down the bank, disturbing the voles and leaving them insufficient cover. They also used to use chemical sprays. But since they've been aware of water voles along the Staggsbrook, they've been more careful in their mowing and strimming. This blog says thank you to councils who listen.

Back at Wybunbury

July 1, 2013, 5:18 am

≫ Next: Populations getting to a peak now

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 Vole from Edgeley Road.

 Grass snake - one of two on Wybunbury Moss last week.

Large Red damselfly, also from the Moss.

Populations getting to a peak now

July 10, 2013, 7:11 am

≫ Next: Vocalising

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 Baby water vole

 Adults

 Very fresh droppings indeed!

 Silver Studded Blue

 Burnet moth

Orchids from Wybunbury Moss and Prees Heath - Pyramid and Common Spotted, I think.

Water vole populations will be peaking about now, and families dispersing. Lots of fights going on over territory.

Vocalising

July 15, 2013, 8:25 am

≫ Next: Good News for the Grocontinental Voles

≪ Previous: Populations getting to a peak now

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 Adult water voles

 Dead mole by the path

Juvenile water voles

It's rare to hear water voles vocalising, in my experience, but when they do it seems to be as a threat or protest towards another vole. The two in the top photo were apparently matched in size and age, but the one holding the apple was piping at the other to back off, which it did. I've heard an adult pipe at a baby to get out of the way, too. But they don't waste time squeaking about predators - they just vanish under water or down a burrow.

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Good News for the Grocontinental Voles

July 25, 2013, 4:27 am

≫ Next: When Voles Grow Bold

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 Latrine in the ditch near Grocontinental. This tells us there's a breeding female there.

 Edgeley Road juvenile and baby

Grocontinental vole

I know many of you have been waiting for an update on this particular colony: well, I’m pleased to tell you that after discussions, the outcome has been pretty positive. In the longer term, habitat will be improved and there is potential for further enhancement of the site, under the guidance of a team including a professional ecologist who understands about the importance of timings to works, and about best environmental practice generally.  

I'm delighted to add that I've had two sightings there recently, and we look forward to water voles thriving in this stretch of the brook.

When Voles Grow Bold

August 1, 2013, 8:25 am

≫ Next: Some Amazing Wildlife at Mile Bank Road

≪ Previous: Good News for the Grocontinental Voles

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 baby water vole

About this time of year, when numbers peak, you do sometimes get one individual who's a little bolder than the rest and will approach very close. This vole came up to me yesterday and bit my boot; today it tried to take my apple, but I hung on and ended up hand-feeding it. At no other time in the year could I hope to do this, nor am I on such familiar terms with any other colony. But the habitat on this particular site is so rich and the vole population correspondingly so dense that I think it must affect group character.

This field is also full of butterflies, more than any other site I've ever come across.

Some Amazing Wildlife at Mile Bank Road

August 9, 2013, 12:45 am

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 Masses of Great Crested Newts at Mile Bank Road

 Looks like just a big old pile of rubbish, but it'll be full of amphibians like this toad.

 Great Crested Newts under these polystyrene tiles.

 Brown Hawker. The site is full of dragonflies feeding on the butterflies.

There's a proposal for a housing development on a brownfield site on Mile Bank Road, Whitchurch. The developers seem keen to get public feedback - a good sign - so I thought I'd go up to the site myself and see what was going on, wildlife-wise.

Although the place looks fairly grotty, with derelict buildings and stretches of open concrete flooring, it's actually teeming with animals. Straight away I found a huddle of ten Great Crested Newts, and a common toad under some iron sheeting. Insect-wise the place is full of butterflies due to the forty or so buddeleia bushes, and feeding on the butterflies was the most amazing range of dragonflies. There are three ponds/boggy areas that are great for all sorts of creatures. At the bottom of the site I found what could have been water vole feeding too - we do have historical records for this area.

So while it's great that developers are looking to use brownfield sites instead of greenfield, there may still be sensitive ecological conditions to be observed. The presence of legally protected species doesn't on its own mean a development will be blocked, but it does mean there will be strict rules that the builders have to adhere to. I'd be interested to see what the developer's ecological report shows up.

For myself I'd be keen specifically to know how the wet area for the newts is going to be incorporated into the new proposals, and how water drainage from the houses is going to be managed. I'd also hope to see the same number of buddeleia bushes restored in the final planting scheme, perhaps with the original bushes being offered to local gardeners if the alternative was to chuck them away. The pile of old rubbish also needs to be dismantled with extreme care as a digger going in and shifting the lot in one go will almost certainly kill the animals living underneath.

I've entered the newt record on a national database and written to both the developer's consultants and the council to let them know about the site's wildlife-value.

Postcard from Ravenscar

August 19, 2013, 2:50 am

≫ Next: Dispersal

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 Grey seals

 Common Blues and a Peacock at the Wold Lavender Farm

 Roe deer

 Broad-bodied chaser

 Adder!

 Fox moth caterpillar

 Swallow has words with a house martin

 Yellowhammer

Slow worms

I can really recommend a holiday in Ravenscar, near Whitby, if you like UK wildlife. The adder and slow worms were personal firsts, and I saw lots of butterflies and dragonflies too. It was especially pleasing to get such good views of seals and a yellowhammer.

Dispersal

August 22, 2013, 10:25 am

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 Above: large adult with a scarred nose, probably from fighting. Below, a juvenile water vole. 

The time of year has come when water vole populations will be dispersing. For the dedicated vole-watcher, the sudden drop in sightings can make it look as if some tragedy has befallen the colony, but in reality numbers have probably thinned out in the main due to juveniles going off to seek new territories.

Round-up

August 28, 2013, 5:13 pm

≫ Next: When your food bites back

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Photos above showing the lovely rounded shape of a vole.

Feeding station and droppings at Mossfields.

Vole which had been damaged, probably by fighting. It looked healthy otherwise and was eating well and swimming about, but I haven't seen it for a fortnight. It's either died or found another territory.

Had a look at a few sites now we're coming towards the end of the season. Obviously the field off Edgeley Road's been the hottest spot for water voles in Whitchurch, but it looks as if White Lion Meadow's also done OK as the stone under the bridge has had a latrine on it all summer. I looked further up Edward German Drive but couldn't see anything; then again, the vegetation's too thick to get right down the bank so I may have missed some signs.

Mossfields (the back of Saddler's Walk), amazingly, hasn't dried out despite the hot weather, and the voles there seem to be doing well if the amount of feeding is anything to go by.

Greenfields Nature reserve is a mystery. Again, the vegetation there is so thick I can't get down to the water to see what's going on. Crossing my fingers that colony's held up this year, and that the few voles left at the Prees Branch Canal manage to re-establish themselves next summer.

The Grocontinental voles look to have recovered well; I had a sighting there yesterday.

I need still to check on Black Park Road and the Railway Bridge by Homebase, and will do within the next week or so.

When your food bites back

September 2, 2013, 12:55 am

≫ Next: Good Practice, Bad Practice

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 This young adult is still fairly bold.

 This vole had to make a hasty exit when a rival shot out from upstream and flung itself into the water.

Pygmy shrew, I think, because tail length is about 70% that of the body. Common shrews' tails are shorter, about 50%.

I had to share with you Richard Steel's gorgeous video of a young water vole trying to eat a nettle: http://vimeo.com/73566838 Towards the end of the clip, you can see there seems to be a bit of an issue with stinging. Nevertheless, the vole carries on!

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Good Practice, Bad Practice

September 7, 2013, 9:31 am

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 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.

Boo to the Environment Agency

September 11, 2013, 5:13 am

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Depressingly, the damage to the banks by over-zealous strimming turns out to have gone right through the town, so that's all along Waylands Road, along Edward German Drive, out on the other side through Greenfields Rise and only stopping when they reached the nature reserve. And the work's been carried out by the Environment Agency! An organisation I've spoken to countless times about water vole presence in the town, and who should have it flagged up in their systems that this stream needs especially sensitive management. They must have remembered something about the voles because of the way that one short stretch by White Lion Meadow has been managed. 

I appreciate they've stuck to the rule about only removing cover from one bank at a time, but for most of the brook between the railway bridge and White Lion Meadow there is only one bank that's vole-friendly. The rest is either flanked by a brick wall or wooden revetment, or the bank is too shaded by overhanging trees for anything to grow there. The result is no cover at all for the water voles who live along this stretch.

And this in a week when we're told that water vole numbers nationally are down by a fifth. Honestly, I could weep.

It's All About Me

September 14, 2013, 11:42 am

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 Droppings in the bottom right corner

A bit of own-trumpet-blowing now: I'm thrilled to say I've won the Bizmums Environmental Mum of the Year Award. I can't tell you what a boost this is, especially after last week's strimming issues. Took myself down to the brook to tell the voles - and I'm aware I'm sounding like Urk from Cold Comfort Farm - and was pleased to see lots of latrines all the way along, even at the pallet end which is quite shady and not ideal habitat. Then this vole appeared and swam about happily.

Next week's task will be to send a letter to Gladman consultants about the development proposed off Tilstock Road. Yes, we need new houses, and yes, it's a sensible site, but the planners and builders will have to follow the rules so that the voles on Mossfields (the back of Saddlers Walk) are protected and the law isn't broken.

Hedgehogs

September 20, 2013, 3:05 am

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The person who took this video has now made her garden fence hedgehog-accessible, and her hedgehogs are very happy.

As well as monitoring water voles, this year I've been keeping tabs on my garden hedgehogs. I thought I'd mark them to see if I could work out how many individuals I had using the lawn as their territory, and I did this by painting the spines carefully with white Humbrol enamel paint (it must not touch the skin though).

Since May I've had at least seventeen individuals coming and going to take the peanuts and dried mealworms I put out each night, though some only made a brief appearance. No babies or juveniles either, despite several courting pairs. I've seen fighting hedgehogs too. The camera I use is a Bushnell, tied to a Fladen umbrella spike that I can push into the ground.

Excitingly, someone else in the road must also be marking hedgehogs because there are definitely hogs with patterns I've not painted who turn up from time to time.

I've logged the sightings myself, but I've also sent them in to www.hedgehogstreet.org, an outfit who are trying to get a picture of how the species is doing nationally. Thousands of other people across the country have also sent results in. 

If you see a hedgehog out during the day, it's almost certainly in trouble, so quickly get advice from the British Hedgehog Preservation Society on 01584 890801 or from St Tiggywinkles on 01844 292292. Don't delay. And if you're in the North Shrops/South Cheshire area and you have a car, you can take injured hogs to Stapeley Grange Wildlife rescue, London Road, Nantwich CW5 7JW, tel: 0870 4427102.

Finally, many thanks to the Shropshire Star for posting a feature on my hedgehogs this week:

http://www.shropshirestar.com/news/2013/09/19/shropshire-nature-buff-captures-hedgehogs-on-camera/hedge3/

Winding Down, with Adders

September 27, 2013, 12:35 pm

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Above, droppings, and below, very clear water vole prints.

I've been to the brook several times this last week and seen nothing, though the voles are definitely around - there are as many prints and droppings as ever. I know from past years this is a usual pattern, though, and sightings-wise, I probably won't get much now till next spring.

Still, it's been a cracking year for wildlife here, with good numbers of water vole signs around the usual sites, plenty of hedgehogs, and for the first time in my life I've seen slow worms and adders. The slow worms were in Ravenscar, but the adders were over in Staffordshire, just over the border. I had a guide with me as I wouldn't have known where to look, and he showed me and my son the right spots where snakes like to bask. We were privileged to find two individual females, plus several common lizards including this dark juvenile (apparently young common lizards are nearly black).

Also saw my first holly blue butterfly, my first drinker moth, my first sexton beetle and my first tiger beetle. None of these is rare, but it's nice when you get a personal first.