In a comment on my last post Caroline from Ragged Robin blog reminded me that as well as seeng Little Grebes on the Cromford Canal in Derbyshire we had also seen Water Voles.
I didn't think I'd taken any photos of them as I had a small camera then but I knew Paul had taken a few photos. After a quick trawl back through photos stored on a hard drive he found his photos.
Here they are.
Such beautiful little creatures. As these photos were taken on 28th February 2008 these particular ones will be long gone, but not forgotten. It was such a joy to see them.
Water Voles are red listed as they have become an endangered species.
Here is more information from The Wildlife Trust website
Such lovely photos! I've never seen a water vole in real life. How big are they Rosie? They are soooo cute! x
ReplyDeleteThank you Simone, they are about the size of an ordinary brown rat. I always think of Wind in the Willows, with ratty, mole and etc:)
DeleteThanks so much for the mention Rosie and for finding the photos. Lovely to see the water vole photos as they are so scarce these days although I think they are still found on the Cromford Canal or in that area. I know there have been re-introductions in various areas in fact I know of a local nature reserve where some were released over the course of a few years until they realised herons were eating them all!
ReplyDeleteI think the last time I saw one was in the Cotswolds at one of the Slaughters and they were on the bank of a river. I was in my 20's at the time so its a long time ago! I did water vole surveys for quite a few years and even when I attended a training session on a site where there was a colony we didn't see a vole only field signs.
Thanks so much again for searching out the photos - they are super.
Thank you Caroline. You have had a good experience of water voles even though they were so elusive at the time. I'd never knowingly seen one before the Cromford ones. I expect the descendants of the ones we photographed are still there - I hope so - we've never seen them again there. There are supposed to be some at Trentham as they released lots of them a couple of years ago but again, we've never seen them:)
DeleteFantastic! They look so big! 😊
ReplyDeleteThank you CK, yes bigger than ordinary voles, about the size of a brown rat but lots more appealing:)
DeleteLovely photos of the water voles. It must have been wonderful to watch them. So sad that they are now an endangered species.
ReplyDeletePaul was lucky to be able to take a few photos of them, there were three in all. It is very sad that they are endangered:)
DeleteThey look so cute. Never knew that Water Voles are an endangered species.
ReplyDeleteYes, it is a shame that they are endangered. Too many predators in the wild I'm afraid:)
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