Tracks - Otter and what else?

[Gerel]

Hi all,

I found these tracks by the side of the river Wye on Friday.

Lots of lovely clear otter prints like this,



and loads of these much smaller ones that I can't place.



Any thoughts?

Steve

[Farplace]

No idea, but I wondered about water vole?

[The Woodman]

Not easy, hind foot of vole, perhaps field. I would say that water vole would be bigger than this but I do find scale hard to judge even when there's a reference.

[Gerel]

Thanks both,

I would obviously really like these to be water vole tracks, but ,as Woody says, they look to be a bit on the small side (I would estimate about 20 - 25 mm long).

There are a lot of smallish burrows going into the bank right above the water here, but I didn't see any that looked like they were currently being used. The river has recently been in spate so any other signs such as latrines and feeding remains would have been washed away.

I plan to return asap to have a good look around.

regards

Steve

[vole-woman]

They don't look quite starry enough for w-v, but I wouldn't 100% rule it out. Field voles often live on river banks and so it could be that, or maybe a young rat.

[Gerel]

Originally Posted by vole-woman

They don't look quite starry enough for w-v, but I wouldn't 100% rule it out. Field voles often live on river banks and so it could be that, or maybe a young rat.

I'd thought from looking at internet pics (including some of yours) that they weren't as "starry" as w-v should be.

The prints were in fairly firm, coarse sand rather than mud, would that make a difference?

The river is in full spate again at the moment after three days of rain (the joys of Wales in the "summer") but when and if it subsides I'm going to have a proper nose around that area.

Steve

[The Woodman]

I can only see hind feet in your posted images, Gerel. V-W's "starry" description is good for the front feet. All vole species feet look similar, the larger size of the Water Vole's is a give away, but also consider juvenile Water Voles!

Vole hind feet always show the same conformity, the main three toes appear in the right substrate almost like three sausages in a row. Front feet show four spreading toes. To confuse the issue, rats and mice are also very similar!



The above is a hind foot of a Water Vole and below is the font foot.



Small rodent tracks are, in my opinion, the hardest group to work with and unless other field signs or observations of the animal are seen, ID can be difficult.

[vole-woman]

If you look at the top photo in my recent blog post, you'll see the splayed toes of a water vole (front foot) standing on a plank of wood.

[The Woodman]

Some good info and images in your blog, V-W, the front feet as you say, are shown well. I'm surprised they're not webbed!

[vole-woman]

Perhaps in a few million years or so they will be.