Activities

Photo copyright Hugh Clark/ English Nature

• Water Voles are rodents, nearly twice the size of bank and field voles. They have dark brown fur, lighter brown or grey underneath.
• Water Voles are about 19cm long with an addition of a tail at 12cm in length. The females are slightly shorter.
• Are often confused with brown rats. Water Voles have smaller ears, a more rounded face and a shorter tail.

• Water Voles prefer to live near water, they can be found near slow moving rivers, streams, ponds and canals, where there are lots of plants growing at the water’s edge.
• They are found all over Britain, but are rare in north-west Scotland and are not found in Ireland.

• Water Voles make burrows in riverbanks. They have several entrances into their burrow, both below and above water. Inside the burrows lead to nest chamber with a nest of chewed grass.
• The boundaries of a Water Voles territory are marked in two ways. They use latrine sites (a Water Voles’ toilet!) on the edge of their territory, this is where you will find their small round droppings. The second way is by scent trails, scent glands under the skin produce a special scent which they rub onto their feet.

• Water Voles find a mate in early spring and the first litter is born in April or May. Female water voles are only pregnant for 3 weeks! They may have 2 or 3 litters in a year.
• There are normally about 5 young in each litter. The babies are born in the nest chamber, underground.
• At five days the young have fur and their eyes open after 8 days. After 1 month they leave the nest.

• Water Voles’ main foods are stems and leaves of grasses and plants growing by the water’s edge. They eat sat hunched over, holding the leaf between their paws and nibbling at it with their front teeth.
• Water voles are very messy eaters and often drop much of their food.
• They are busiest during the day and do not hibernate in winter. Instead they may store food in their burrows for when food is scarce over winter.

• Water voles are eaten by pike, herons, weasels, stoats, mink and birds of prey. Brown rats kill and eat baby voles and sometimes attack the adults. Mink are not native to this country and have resulted in a catastrophic affect on Water Vole numbers.
• Water Voles have very good hearing, when they hear a predator they will dive into the water and swim away. When frightened they will dive to the bottom of the water and stir up mud with their feet so that they are more difficult to spot.
• Water Voles can only hold their breath for about 20 seconds so they must make it to the safety of their burrow quickly.
• Water Voles do not normally live longer than 2 winters.

• Water voles have poor eyesight but very good hearing, how good is yours? This game can be played with a group of children. Blindfold a child and sit them on chair in the middle of the room. Draw or use a rope to make a circle around the chair, close to the chair. Ask the rest of the children to sit some distance away. Choose one child at a time to approach the chair being as quiet as they can, if they manage to get within the circle without the blindfolded child pointing directly at them, then they are successful at catching the Water Vole. If they are pointed at before entering the circle, then the Water Vole (the blindfolded child) survives.
• Look for signs of Water Voles along a river bank. Grass chewed off halfway down a leaf is a good sign. Sit some distance away and watch and wait to find a Water Vole. Remember Water Voles are most active during the day. << Beware of rat droppings, do not touch and wash hands after activity>> If you see a Water Vole, record where you saw it and contact Ecorecord to add your result to the regional biodiversity database.

More Activities

• Predators: Animals which hunt other animals.
• Territory: The area an animal lives in including the area it uses to find food.
• Burrow: The tunnels animals make underground are called burrows.
• Mate: A male and a female find each other to mate and have babies.
• Hibernate: Like a long sleep, the animal's heartbeat will slow down and the animal will not move much. This helps the animal save energy when there is not much food around in winter.
• Rodents: A group of animals which include rats, mice and squirrels.
• Litter: A group of young animals, just born.