The Wildlife of
Wallington

 
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Mammals - The Bank Vole

First seen on Tuesday 21st September 2021 at Wallington

Not to be confused with a mouse, this is a Bank Vole. Mice have relatively much longer tails and their ears and eyes are more prominent. Voles are normally well hidden, but when there is some easy food, especially in the winter, they can often be seen around bird feeders (as is the case with this on in hole under the feeders). The other one (on the flower) was found in the Walled Garden. I've seen them scurrying across the path on several occasions, but caught this one nibbling the flowers!

The UK has three types of vole - the Bank Vole here, which lives in woodland, grassland and hedgerows, the Field Vole, which is more secretive and lives in the meadows, and the Water Vole, which as its name suggests, lives in and around water. Bank Voles and Fields voles are similar, but the Bank Vole has a proportionally longer tail (which you can just see pointing at about 2 o'clock).