A Country Diary: West Yorkshire
Rummaging is the only word to describe the search for water vole signs at this time of year. With plants full grown, not yet died back, yet concentrated and flattened by autumn winds and rain, the hunt for latrines, feeding signs, even bankside tunnels, involves rummaging among the dense stalks of burr-reed, reedmace, dropwort and sweet reed-grass.
Mike Gray and I were surveying the Hardwick Beck, a tributary of the river Went. The aim was to see what effect, if any, the spreading mink population may have had on water voles - it was surveyed two years ago, so we had got a good baseline. The bad news was that mink had been along the beck; the good news was that water voles were still present. This does not mean that mink and water voles can be happy neighbours, but it does tell us that we need to study mink lifestyles more thoroughly.
Mike is from the West Yorkshire ecology unit, which commissioned both surveys. The unit covers the former metropolitan county council area, and is funded by the five principal councils. It is working hard to build a detailed database of the distribution of key species, such as water vole and great-crested newt, but also of common species.
Walking back to the car as dusk drew in, we spotted 10 brown hares feeding on the wide headlands alongside the recently sown winter wheat. They had spent much of the day lying flattened in shallow scrapes in the bare earth, or utilising the tracks left by tractors.
A covey of partridge - eight Frenchies (or red-legged), three native greys - scuttled across the next field, and a female sparrowhawk shot out of a hawthorn bush by the bank. In the gathering gloom, a heron flapped lazily up the water's edge. We were not the only ones looking for small animals along the beck.
Mike Gray and I were surveying the Hardwick Beck, a tributary of the river Went. The aim was to see what effect, if any, the spreading mink population may have had on water voles - it was surveyed two years ago, so we had got a good baseline. The bad news was that mink had been along the beck; the good news was that water voles were still present. This does not mean that mink and water voles can be happy neighbours, but it does tell us that we need to study mink lifestyles more thoroughly.
Mike is from the West Yorkshire ecology unit, which commissioned both surveys. The unit covers the former metropolitan county council area, and is funded by the five principal councils. It is working hard to build a detailed database of the distribution of key species, such as water vole and great-crested newt, but also of common species.
Walking back to the car as dusk drew in, we spotted 10 brown hares feeding on the wide headlands alongside the recently sown winter wheat. They had spent much of the day lying flattened in shallow scrapes in the bare earth, or utilising the tracks left by tractors.
A covey of partridge - eight Frenchies (or red-legged), three native greys - scuttled across the next field, and a female sparrowhawk shot out of a hawthorn bush by the bank. In the gathering gloom, a heron flapped lazily up the water's edge. We were not the only ones looking for small animals along the beck.
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