A male Water Vole swims calmly towards me!

Water Voles are easily spooked by sudden movement, or noise, because they are constantly on the alert for predators. To capture this behaviour, I stood statuesque and was pin drop quiet! I was also wearing muted colours. On Springwatch recently, it was noted that Water Voles were spooked by golfers passing over a footbridge. I recently saw a Water Vole speed towards her burrow, having heard two approaching dogs straining on the their leads which she was unable to see. Dog owner Terry Whittaker has written a blog about Sheffield's Water Voles where research was carried out to see if a dog exclusion fence would help them. The results revealed that: "the (water vole) population has increased and the fenced off areas are being used by snipe, woodcock and grouse." Wildlife quickly notice where it is safe to feed and breed! So it is really important not to let your dogs into the water and to keep them on the footpath, equally so during the bird-nesting season, as there are many ground nesting birds in the UK, or those who nest close to the ground, such as Nightingales. watervole.org....