Water Vole - Arvicola amphibius

Water Voles have a blunt, rounded nose, and a small chubby face with small, almost hidden ears, and a long hair-covered tail,. They have a rich chestnut-brown coat, but individuals in Scotland often have black fur. The fur traps air that provides thermal insulation when swimming, and they also possess flaps of skin in the ear that prevent water from entering. Water voles are herbivores, feeding on a huge variety of waterside vegetation and consuming 80 percent of their body weight each day.

Brown rat

Adult Droppings Chewed Vegetation Paw prints

Swims low down on the water surface compared to Rats which are far more upright with head held high above the water.

Stubby nose, beady eyes, chestnut-brown pelage, short, hidden ears at side of head, long hairy tail

Please provide a clear image of the animal and/or a detailed description of what was seen.  Any field signs with your record will need a photograph too. When looking for field signs try to record more than one - a combination of droppings or latrines, burrows and chewed vegetation will help to confirm presence.  Foot prints are hard to tell apart from Rat prints.

Densely vegetated banks of slow flowing rivers, ditches, lakes and marshes where water is present throughout the year.  Particularly found on canals where good riparian vegetation, stable water levels and access to earth banks to burrow into.

All Year Round, but more likely seen during breeding season (April to October) when young will start to establish their own territory and start to breed again in autumn.  Populations can quickly multiply during this time and are very active at dusk and dawn.

During winter, they create food larders to store the food they have collected above ground.  This will help them to survive over winter and not have to venture out when conditions are poor.  They will still create latrine sites over winter (observed in Leicestershire study on Ashby Canal) where populations are high.

Each year between April and September, one to five litters consisting of three to seven blind, naked young can be produced after a short gestation of only 23 days. The young are weaned after 2 weeks and leave the nest after 3 weeks.  Typical of other rodents, they reach maturity quickly and can breed as early as 15 weeks old. This will allow populations to re-establish themselves very quickly if there are no other reasons to prevent this (such as Mink predation, habitat loss etc)

IUCN status Endangered (in danger of extinction) in UK with over 90% population decline from habitat loss and predation from American mink

Uncommon in Leicestershire and Rutland with losses recorded in 1980-2000s similar to national records. Some recovery and re-establishment of populations at Rutland Water (reintroduced in 2010s), Ashby Canal and River Gwash. 

Elsewhere absent or few records