Although we have birds such as Long-tailed Duck, Cetti’s Warbler, Short-eared Owl and White-fronted Geese around just now, it seems that Bobby the Water Vole who resides at the back of the Visitor Centre, has become our star attraction, particularly among photographers. Brian Clasper managed this nice portrait on Monday.
But is it as cute as Cate's photograph which shows his weeny little fingers ?
Our Water Voles are special, and not just because they are now so rare. In Europe, the same species of Water Vole is terrestrial, and they live like Moles under the ground, even throwing up spoil hills like Mole hills. But in Britain, in the absence of a native (European) Mink, our Water Voles developed a specialised escape mechanism from terrestrial predators, which is simply to dive into the water. Over time, their behaviour has become more aquatic, but their physiology has not. They don’t have webbed feet, or use their tail as a rudder, and their fur becomes waterlogged with prolonged submergence.
Presumably, over thousands of years, our Water Voles will evolve a body to match their behaviour, and become a separate species from their European cousins.
Brexit for Water Voles ?