31 Jan

Three more visits to Rooksbury to round of the month. I had 1 possible water vole sighting; I'm ashamed to say even though I saw it for several seconds I couldn't tell if it was a water vole or a rat. It was running at full speed along the waters edge. I wasn't aware of any ears which would suggest a water vole. However its burrow entrance was a hole in the concrete of a bridge and there were snail shells at the entrance, points to a rat. The sighting was on the edge of the park and I walked up to the bridge after a guy said he quite often seen water voles there and had even seen one swimming. I went back the following day and saw nothing at all. I think it was probably a rat, but who knows. I will keep my eyes ready next time. There are several in use water vole latrines along the river which is promising and hopefully in the next few months the water vole count will escalate. There are lots of blue, great and long tail tits about as well as chaffinch, wren, robin, grey wag tail and gold crests. I've seen the water rail again amazing colours and when talking colours I can’t not mention the king fisher, which I still see on most visits.

Thank you to Gill for IDing the bird.