10th December
To the year’s archive! Didn’t set foot in the great outdoors today much to my shame, but did life admin instead (still more to do! Hello tax returns!), so today’s species is one I saw over the spring and summer, and similarly to the ground beetle a few days ago this was also found in an amphibian pitfall trap.
Bank Vole Myodes glareolus (Schreber, 1780)
I met this species, as I said, in a pitfall trap where I almost had a conversation with it. It had fallen in overnight and I was going to fish it out and let it get on with it’s day. I talked to it, as one tends to do with fellow mammals, and it squeaked back before I scooped it out and it ran off. Bank Voles are incredibly common but not many people get to see them as they are secretive and run very fast for their size. This is because Bank Vole is number one on the menu for may creatures, from stoats to foxes to owls and kestrels so they need to be quick and secretive in order to survive. I had to check the ID of mine as there are two similar species on the mainland UK, this one and the field vole. Bank voles are slightly browner in colour than field voles but they are hard to tell apart.
Advent species so far:
- 1st: Goosander Mergus merganser
- 2nd: December Moth Poecilocampa populi
- 3rd: Horse Chestnut Aesculus hippocastanum
- 4th Black-headed Gull Chroicocephalus ridibundus
- 5th Cape Sparrow Passer melanurus
- 6th Loricera pilicornis
- 7th Great Tit Parus major
- 8th Tipula paludosa
- 9th Redwing Turdus iliacus
- 10th Bank Vole Myodes glareolus
A Species a Day 