News
Saturday, 13 August 2011
Mark Weston
Wonderfull Water Voles
Introduced at the Arundel Wetland Centre 5 years ago this adorable little creature has absconded and colonised the banks from Swanbourne Lake - Arundel Castle along Mill road.
Brown rat can also be seen but what is the difference?
The brown rat has large ears that can be clearly seen, a long scaly tail and pointed face features.
Whereas the water vole has smaller hidden ears, a furry tail that is shorter than it's body, and blunt facial features more like a guinea pig.
With only the finest quality British apples and carrots the RSPB will try to entice the voles from out of there burrows onto a floating platform where they hope to show the creature at close range feeding. Their diet is normally quite varied and includes approx 227 species of vegetation, although they may occasionally
take small bugs or dead fish.
Our fastest declining native mammal the water vole has numerous predators from cats and dogs to pike, heron, stoats and owls. But the biggest threat to this lovably chap is the non-native mink which is the only predator that can follow the water vole on land, in the water and into its burrow. Unsuitable management of our river banks can also be a major problem.
Our nature reserve at Rainham Marshes has one of the largest populations of water vole in the country and is a great place to try and see them! Locally however there has been recent reports of water voles at our Pulborough Brooks reserve but it is too soon to say if they have spread from the Arundel Wetland Centre colony.
The RSPB will be situated between the castle and the putting green along Mill Road between 10am - 4.30pm everyday until Bank Holiday Monday 29th August so please come along to see us and we will do our best to show you this little TV star*
http://www.bbc.co.uk/go/em/fr/-/news/uk-england-surrey-14402407