Water Voles, Bank Voles and Springwatch

Wednesday morning saw me heading out in the rain, towards the Derwent River with the aim of filming Water Voles. As Folks may not realise this star of the Wind in the Willows, (Ratty should have been called Volley) is the fastest declining mammal in Britain. However we still have a relatively healthy local population. This is mainly due to the fact that we do not have a problem with Mink.

However, before waxing lyrical about the water vole, I have to admit that I should have postponed my attempt when I saw the weather forecast. As any one with more than one brain cell working, I seem to have had only one working this morning, Heavy Rain and electrically operated cameras don't mix. While I do use covers and rain shields, I was risking getting my equipment water logged. Just as I got water logged. When I got back home I even had to wring out my boxers.

I was in the right location though as I could see the voles were active in the place I had hoped to see them. It is one of the real benefits of the loss of the heavy industry that blighted this region that the rivers are now clean enough to support a healthy biodiversity in the rivers. There was a time, only thirty odd years ago when the river was so polluted that even common weeds were killed off by the waters from this chemical cocktail of a river.

When I got back and dried off by having a bath, there is twisted logic there somewhere. I sat down to write up my notes. As I did this I watched with interest a Blue Tit that was going around the plants in my yard picking off any insects. Then he or she, started collecting flies from the spiders webs in there too. Quite remarkable behaviour and something I had not seen before.

Today, Thursday saw me dealing with other Voles. As some types of conservation work requires trapping of small mammals, under licence, I have been seeking to get the training needed. As I am financing this myself. The costs are coming out of my pocket rather than being funded by a Charity, Conservation body, or government department, one of the people providing me with the training and experience has been providing me with a lift. This morning that meant a very early start of three thirty. Therefore I was rather somnambulant this morning. It meant that while I picked up my packed lunch, I forgot my cameras.

Learning to handle any small mammal can be a painful experience, but so far I have escaped being bitten. Although everyone else has suffered bites. My mentor thinks that it could be that I have some sort of affinity... Rubbish, I am just careful as I know it would hurt.

While others suffered the indignity of getting nipped in the name of conservation, I while laying on the ground removing one of the humane live traps, suffered by having a smelly muddy dog run on to my back and grab my ponytail. For nearly a minute it refused to let go or allowed me to try to rise. When one of the other students freed me from the clutches of her mutt, I rose with my pride feeling very bruised. I felt like giving the dog an Anti-Social Behaviour Order. I did however keep the trap intact and the vole safe.

When the Vole was released, its released into a bag, I thought it was a field Vole. However, as I am not an expert, I was surprised to discover that it was a Bank Vole. This lesson made me realise that I had previously seen them in my local woods and misascribed my observations. If only school had been this interesting.

Anyway, even though I have bathed I can still smell that damn dog on me.

To go off on a tangent, my regular reader will know that I have been enthusing about the springwatch that the BBC have been doing this year. In previous years, there have been parts that were less good, this year I can not fault the programme. In part this is because the whole team have grown in confidence and have pulled out all the stops to garner some remarkable images. For example the wildlife film maker Simon King, one of the co presenters, shot some ultra slow motion video of an Osprey catching a fish. Remarkable and graceful. However, what for me will be the highlight was the footage they shot of the Scottish Wild Cat. This is an animal so rare and elusive that it was a delight to see. Having spent three weeks of my life trying to see one myself and not doing so, I know just how difficult that was. And this has only been the first week of three.

Anyway, while talking of elusive creatures, the film here is of a Jay. While not rare, and can be seen occasionally, I was chuffed to bits when I got this bit of film.

Otters and Water Voles

Today I wanted to go down to the river to see if I could see and hopefully film the Otters. I would have preferred to have gone down at first light, but other aspects of a normal life intruded and I had to wait until a caller visited in the morning. So I went in to my office to check my email, as I was waiting for the system to boot up, I looked at the sky and there at quite an altitude at least 750 feet was a Red Kite being mobbed by a cloud of crows. The contrast and the altitude showed the wingspan of the Kite off to full advantage. The grace and the effortless flight was a real treat to start the day with.

Once the man from the gas company had carried out the safety inspection of the meter, I was free to get out into the wood. I knew exactly where I wanted to go, and headed straight for the spot. As the rainfall has been so low so far this year, I could head for a location that is normally inaccessible. Even so the footing is not that good and I needed to step carefully. As I was approaching my chosen vantage point I saw an otter swimming up the river towards me.
I quickly set up but the otter had disappeared on the far bank. I was not in the perfect position but I had the camera ready all I needed to do was wait. I knew that it was possible that the otter had seen me, but at least the wind was blowing in the right direction. As I waited I was presented with a dilemma. I knew the otter was hidden in the undergrowth, I could just make out her tail, but I could also see a Water Vole swimming upstream towards me. If I moved the camera to film the water vole, I would lose the otter. So I kept my nerve and the camera stayed on the spot where the otter was hiding. I could see she was moving along behind the bush, reeds and grass.

It is at times like these that I learn just why these otters are so difficult to see. She knew I was there and was carefully keeping the vegetation between herself and me. All the time I could see the Water Vole swimming up the river. Partly by listening and partly from seeing the otters tail I kept my eyes on where the otter was. Then suddenly there was a plop as another Water Vole entered the water, this gave the otter the opportunity to do the same and she dived and was gone. Realising that my chance had gone, I swung the camera towards the voles only to see them disappear on the other side of the river. I waited a while but there was no sign of them appearing. So I moved to the location I had been heading for.

I settled down and waited and waited, I stayed for over four hours but no sign of either the otters or the voles. I did try being a arty and filmed the river, but I did not get a single frame of them. As there is heavy rain and high winds forecast, when the rain became more steady than a drizzle, I decided I had better move. Heavy rain could cause me to become cut off. This is why this location can be so good for seeing wildlife as it is genuinely undisturbed. However, while I do venture forth into difficult locations, I am also sensible about not taking risks.

Therefore I started extricating myself from that location. I wanted to have a look at a couple of other places where it is likely that other wildlife will be active. It was disappointing to see a large volume of rubbish in one part of the wood, had I not been carrying all the equipment I would have collected some of it but that will have to await another day. What lifted my spirits was seeing some real signs of spring Lesser Celandine and Hawks beard both in flower. I could see that there is the possibility for the next few months finding me very busy as new life springs forth.

The picture is of the cliffs known as the Crags it doesn't take a lot of imagination to realise how difficult the access was to my location today.