Your wildautumn

The best of the season’s wildlife and where to enjoy it on your local patch

Autumn Spectacle

Don’t call me Ra y!

Chestnut-coloured water voles aren’t to be confused with rats, which are larger and have a more pointed head. This waterloving mammal is altogether ‘cuter’, with its smaller ears, blunt nose and furry tail. Water voles prefer more open stretches of water with plenty of vegetation – no surprise given they must eat around 80% of their body weight every day!

Habitat loss and fierce predation by the introduced American mink have hammered their numbers, making the water vole Britain’s fastest declining mammal. If you are lucky enough to see a water vole, please take a moment to record your sighting, noting where and when you saw it. Email the Leicestershire and Rutland Mammal Group at LandRmammals@gmail.com or submit your sighting at naturespot.org

See Them This Autumn

Water voles are hard to spot but you may hear the ‘plop’ of a water vole as it dives into the water. Look and listen out for them along the following stretches of water:

 Ashby Canal: Search the section between Hinckley and Snarestone.

 Rutland Water Nature Reserve: Water voles were successfully reintroduced here in 2011.

 Upper Soar Valley: Explore from the village of Cro to Aylestone Meadows, Leicester.

You’re helping!

Signs of water vole activity include stems gnawed o at a 45-degree angle, neatly grazed ‘lawns’ around their burrows (above) and piles of Tic Tac-sized droppings.

Your membership helps fund mink control and regular monitoring surveys at Rutland Water Nature Reserve where water voles are now thriving.