Water vole, that is. The only actual Voles I see these days are dead or about to be eaten by birds of prey.
I’ve blogged about one Water vole sighting this year (A Water vole does lunch, 25 January) but I have actually seen these cute furry bundles on a couple of other occasions, including the one shown in this image from 5 April, when Ratty was inquisitively exploring the reeds along the side of a local brook looking for something succulent to eat.
earthstar 
Back in the summer I walked a stretch of the river Test where I had seen Water Voles as a chid about 50 years ago in the hope of seeing some. No luck and spoke to a Water Bailiff who said he had not seen any on the stretch of water but had trapped over 20 American Mink on the River last year.
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Though very handsome animals, Mink are such destructive creatures. Let’s hope the trapping means the Water vole population has a chance to recover.
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