# water voles or mice?! answers asap!!!xx



## Cleo27 (Jan 9, 2010)

hiya everybody
well my garden is a absaloute dump! totaly no place for animals. recently..well in the past month we decided to make it a bit more nature freindly by installing a cheap, run of the mill birdfeeder from pets @ home. during the course of this month we have attracted sparrows, house martins, tits, starlings, even crows, magpies and pidgeons. but yesterday we noticed a different kind of creature as i opened the door. i only caught a glimpse of it. it was like darkish browny with a kind of fluffy tail and round snout. it did not have ears and was definitely not a rat. i actually think it is a water vole because we got a letter in from the council saying that we have water voles in the area - but theres no water at all apart from a drain outside my house! it seems to be fairly cocky and has been eating the meagre peices of grass and weeds, and i have saw it nibling on the seeds that the birds have dropped. then tonight my dad went out into the porch and this is where the giant bag of birdseed is kept .. he moved the calor gas fire over slighly to see a huge pile of neatly shaped bird seeds. then he went and bent down to put them back in the bag and the little 'animal' jumped out of the calor gas fire and out of the door! we dont have a clue what it is.. but i was wondering if any of you guys would know, as im trying to convince my dad that its a water vole so he doesnt set mouse traps..but could somebody help because i need to find out so i can help the wee thing. thanks in advance and please answer asap if you can, brooke xx


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## Stubby (Jan 30, 2007)

The small ears makes it sound like a water vole. Mice have fairly large ears in comparison to their size.

Try doing a google image search for water vole, house mouse and field mouse and compare them to what you saw


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## gw5458 (Jan 3, 2010)

Round nose, ears not obvious and furry tail - sounds like a vole to me. Mice have big ears and pointed noses. Rat tails definitely are not furry. If your dad still wants to set traps then why not use live capture traps then you can release the small furry object safely if it turns out to be something other than a rat or mouse?


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## corvid2e1 (Jan 21, 2007)

definetly sounds like a vole but it is unlikely to be a water vole coming into your garden for bird seed. they generaly stick pretty close to the waters edge and do not usualy come in to raid bird seed. How big was it? water voles are suprisingly large, easily as big as an adult rat. I think it is more likely to be a field or bank vole.


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## Cleo27 (Jan 9, 2010)

could fit in your hand defo x
will try and get a pic  x


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## laurencea (Aug 28, 2009)

voles have flat ears, so you won't see them. water voles are big! surprisingly so.

probably a field vole, maybe a bank vole. water voles will come out a few metres from water, but not much more. they also tend to eat grass and reeds.

you'd need a big hand to get a water vole on it!


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## Cleo27 (Jan 9, 2010)

would they go in to a drain.. thats the kind of only source of water nearby :Lx


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## laurencea (Aug 28, 2009)

they do go in some drains, but they need access to grass and reeds to eat and also need earth banks to nest/burrow in.

the drains they tend to use would be ones that feed out onto a river/lake.

i'd say unless you have a river/lake within 100 yards it's not a water vole.

field voles are quite dark... bank voles are a bit redder


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## Cleo27 (Jan 9, 2010)

we have been watching the vole ever since my last post. it is definitely a bank vole guys :2thumb: thanks for all your help :flrt:zxxxx


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## Stubby (Jan 30, 2007)

Oh, you are so lucky  Can you try and get a photo to show us :flrt:


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## Cleo27 (Jan 9, 2010)

Yip will have some pics soon. Trying to get a photo is an absaloute nightmare - he's so fast! We have named him Augustus :lol2:xx


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