Sunday, May 17, 2020

Evening meanders

It's been a quiet week on the mammal-spotting front, so on Friday Turtle and I decided to go for an evening adventure together. I wanted to take her to the meadows by the Thames near our house - somewhere that is more tricky to go to with Seahorse in tow too, but I knew we'd be able to tick off various species together.

The first spot was numerous mole hills that Turtle saw without my even having to nudge her in the right direction. There are some fairly sizeable mole hills around at this time of year, usually indicative of a nest, meaning lots more wandering through feeding tunnels just below the ground for mum in a bid to find worms for her and her brood. 

At this point Turtle seemed more excited by the fact that we were up past her bedtime, and that I had a ready supply of butter mints than much else, but next on my list was a water vole.  Water voles are one of Britain's most endangered species due to habitat fragmentation and invasive American mink, but they are a species I've worked on for many years so are quiet special for me. Turtle has seen pictures, and has stamped her foot in frustration when I've said she can't come to work with me, so I was keen to show her indicative signs, if not an actual live water vole. I recently came across a new population on our local patch, which involved traversing patches of nettles, thistles and brambles to get to. Some things are worth it though, and it made it an adventure within an adventure (cue Turtle singing quietly en route about Turtle and Mummy being amazing explorers - and I wasn't going to burst that particular bubble)!


Water voles leave really distinctive piles of feeding remains, and in this particular area there were several piles, alongside some latrines, where female water voles stamp down old droppings and poo on top of the flattened piles to mark their territories. There was no sign of actual animals however, and only so long a 6yr old can remain interested in chewed vegetation and poo - and I had one other destination in mind before heading home.

I was on the hunt for otter spraint - yet more poo, but usually left in prominent places and often easy to find. Not quite so on this particular evening unfortunately. My usual go-to places (everyone has go-to places to find poo, right?) were totally devoid, so that one will be something to return to. However just as we were heading back home, a family group turned up armed with binoculars, obviously expecting to see something of note. Turtle isn't backwards in talking to people, and we quickly found out about a local barn owl that frequently hunted over the meadow and was due to turn up in a few minutes. Obviously we hung around, and literally three minutes later it quietly flew in over the Thames and started quartering the field. Turtle was utterly mesmerised - as was I, but she was literally watching it with her mouth hanging open. It swooped down and disappeared for a few moments, presumably eating whatever it had caught, but then was up again and resumed it's quartering. It came and went, fairly closely at times and always utterly silently (as was Turtle, which is nothing short of miraculous), and after it's second successful hunt it emerged with a small mammal in its' feet. Judging by the short tail clearly visible as it flew overhead, this was a field vole (another tick for us). At this point the owl began to be mobbed by four black-backed gulls and it beat a hasty retreat back over the Thames, still clutching it's prize. 



At this point we too beat a hasty retreat back home, with one very happy Turtle who was still singing to herself about the amazing adventures of Turtle and Mummy!

British mammal tally: 7

Learn more about moles here, water voles here and field voles here.

If you are interested in supporting Turtle & Seahorse, and through them the Mammal Society please click here for our fundraising page - thank you.

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