Water voles are very scarce these days so its always nice to come across one, especially when foraging on the river bank like this little guy. Made famous as ‘Ratty’ in the Wind in the Willows book, the water vole is everything but a rat. A very large vole complete with rounded face and thick ginger fur, this creature has declined massively due to loss of habitat and predation by North American mink released into the wild by anti-fur trade people as well as simply escaping from the fur farms. Currently, a massive conservation effort to help the voles and erdicate the mink is under way, but the water vole remains a scarce site along our river banks.
.jpg "water vole in derbyshire by Yorkshire wildlife photographer John Gardner")
