Close to one of nature’s miniature furry creatures!

Today was a rather windy damp December, day making it feel like 3 degrees Celsius! I was in a garden working. Some Crocosmia sp needed thinning out as it was dominating a corner of the garden. Being close to the ground made what was about happen rather special. I was nice and warm wearing a number of layers and I had my new thermal gloves on which certainly made gardening more pleasant in the conditions. Something caught my eye – a small movement. I had cleared an area which made viewing easier.

I slowed my movements down and became still. My focus intensified and I saw a small brown creature with an endearing little face. The face had rounded features with a beady black eye set into it. I immediately thought it was a vole. I am going to call this vole a ‘she’ as she had some feminine qualities; she made use of some of my cuttings which I had let fall unnoticed and proceeded to drag them to what looked like an opening and disappeared. She came out later and started coming nearer to me – I held my breath and dared not move. I could have reached out and scooped her up as she was so close – within an arms length!

This all happened in a small span of time but it seemed a lot longer. I watched her go back and forth in and out of her hole. Then had the presence of mind to get my phone out. I decided to take a video as the still option made it look like she was further away.

I did manage to see her tail which from the description I read appears to define her as a Bank vole (Myodes glareolus). The tail needs to be 50% of the body length to define it as a Bank vole, compared to a Field vole who’s tail is 30% the body length. I was surprised to see that the tail was longer than I expected. Apparently they also like to come to the base of bird feeders and collect any left overs that may have fallen. This fact was confirmed to me by my client who said she had seen one feeding around her bird feeder.