Monday 18 April 2011

Water Voles

I spent an interesting day partly at Brandon Marsh and partly at a site in Warwickshire on a Water Vole Surveying course.  (Thanks Tim, it was a great day)

Water Voles have been a target species for me for a while, but as with a number of potential projects, I haven't done anything about it due to time constraints until now.

Now knowing very little about these delightful and rapidly declining animals, Jac and I booked on a course for surveying them. 

The great thing about doing  little courses like this is that you find out so much about your subject, their habits, habitat and critically how to find out where they live.

After spending a few hours in the class room doing the theory stuff we went to the field site and saw two.

I managed a quick handheld grab shot that is really very poor and a big crop, but at least it helps to identify the creature positively.



All we have to do know is find some more nearer home, and be patient.

I can recommend courses like these though - check out your nearest Wildlife Trust for details.

Martin

2 comments:

  1. Hi all,

    The water voles are large voles in the genus Arvicola. They are found in both aquatic and dry habitat through Europe and much of northern Asia. They have rounder noses than rats, deep brown fur, chubby faces and short fuzzy ears, unlike rats their tails, paws and ears are covered with hair. Thanks a lot!

    Wildlife Photography

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  2. Any shot of a water vole's good! And it's hard to capture them swimming, so well done.

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