Difference between field voles and bank voles

[Dogghound]

Originally Posted by vole-woman

Aren't bank voles equally scrumptious?

Im sure they are but they tend not to be as important as field voles, perhaps due to population densities, habit of staying close to cover, spending more time below ground etc.. etc.. Thats not to say they arnt heavily predated. Field vole are much more numerous in bird of prey diets and predatory mammal diets and have more species specialize in them. They are both an important species within food chains.

[WrexTheDragon]

Originally Posted by vole-woman

I was lucky enough to hold a bank vole in my palm - I had mittens on and my hands were quite warm and he sat there so contentedly I actually had to prise him off in the end. Not so your mouse or your field vole!

[vole-woman]

Ooh, that's my hand and my vole! Thanks!

[Meta menardi]

The bank vole is quite a handsome little devil, isn't it? They fill my garage with eaten plumstone cases (I presume it is bank voles, they seem to be around there quite a bit).

[Meta menardi]

Originally Posted by Meta menardi

The bank vole is quite a handsome little devil, isn't it? They fill my garage with eaten plumstone cases (I presume it is bank voles, they seem to be around there quite a bit).

Well, partially fill it.

[vole-woman]

I was going to say...

[KentYeti]

My love of owls means I have a great interest in this thread!

Slightly off topic, for which I apologise, but I hear talk of "good vole years".

Presumably the trapping etc mentioned earlier helps determine when one of those is occuring?

And, bearing in mnd the large numbers of Short Eared that have arrived in the East of the country recently, is this year in that category of a "good vole year"?

Cheers,

Bryan

[vole-woman]

Our trapping days are very small-scale so we don't use them to determine population size. In some cases we get the same animal several times.

I'm not sure how you would determine "land" vole numbers on a site. With water voles we count latrines on a specific stretch of river bank, but it isn't a very exact science.

Does anyone know?

It's good to be reminded of the puprose of voles in an ecology, though - which is to be eaten!

[KentYeti]

Originally Posted by vole-woman

Our trapping days are very small-scale so we don't use them to determine population size. In some cases we get the same animal several times.

I'm not sure how you would determine "land" vole numbers on a site. With water voles we count latrines on a specific stretch of river bank, but it isn't a very exact science.

Does anyone know?

It's good to be reminded of the puprose of voles in an ecology, though - which is to be eaten!

Oh yes!

Watching the current wonderful numbers of Short Eared Owls on the Isle of Sheppey in Kent, along with the local Barn Owls, Marsh and Hen Harriers plus the resident Kestrels, one cannot but wonder that is NOT a good place to be a vole of any sort.

These are the contents of a Barn Owl pellet I found at one of my favourite watching places a week or so ago. Mainly voles!



When I get time I'll do some more close up photos of the teeth, which is how I have been told is one way to differentaite between field and bank voles.

Those below were identified as from a field vole, and came from a Short Eared Owl pellet. I got very close to getting a photo of a SOE eating a small mammal yesterday, but a car drew up to look and scared it off before I could get close enough to take the picture. I am told the SOE's crush the heads first to kill them, which may have given me just enough time before the vole became history. The Owl was certainly having a good munch!





Cheers,

Bryan

[tcvarlh]

One wears a Smock and the other a Bowler, surely?
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