Tracks - Otter and what else?

[Gerel]

Hi V-W just been having a dip (sorry can't resist a pun) into your brook blog, is good stuff.

Quick question, are latrines found on W-V territories all year round or are they seasonal?

regards

Steve

[vole-woman]

There's some recent info on latrines here: Water vole latrines

They're mainly obvious during the breeding season, any time from a warm Feb through to a mild October. I have found them once or twice in winter, but that's unusual.

[Dogghound]

Originally Posted by Gerel

Quick question, are latrines found on W-V territories all year round or are they seasonal?

To add to what VW has said, latrines are usually associated with territories and the marking of these territories. In winter these territories tend to break down and voles will become more communal and share burrows (particularly siblings and relatives). Due to the break down in territorial behaviour latrines become less important and droppings are distributed more at random, although sometimes they will still deposit at latrines. You can still find old latrines early in the winter before they break down. As VW says as voles start to become more sexually active around March (Feb-Apr) they start to re-appear.

Regarding the OP I think this is large enough to be a water vole, a 20p would be a bit big for bank/field voles. Although not enough to go on to separate from rat which is a challenge in itself. If ever conducting a survey I very rarely go on footprints alone, usually water voles leave enough other signs (latrines, feeding signs, burrows etc) to reliably confirm them using a site. A tip which is sometimes handy with all vole species is their feet are different sizes (hind larger than fore) in rats, mice etc this is less evident with the feet being more similar in size, this can help sometimes in the field.

[Gerel]

Vole-woman and DH, thank you both for the replies, the river here is still very high so any latrines or signs of feeding will probably have been washed away. However if we get a spell of more settled weather I'm going for a better look.

regards

Steve