On the 14th May I attended the first meeting of a new, and so far un-named, g
roup of volunteers who will hopefully become a major part of the River Anton Enhancement Project. The group will initially be guided by Jim and Sarah, but importantly will be completely separate from either TVBC and the Wildlife Trust. The group will have its own funding, mainly from grants, and will comprise a small working committee and a host of volunteers, who in time, with some expert input, will carry out any work required and decide on the best way to maintain and improve the Anton. This is a huge and exciting project and will require lots of enthusiastic and willing volunteers for the group to succeed and see the Anton cared for by members of the public in Andover.
Of course the water voles on the Anton have kept me busy with more monitoring and more surveys. The po
pulation at Rooksbury continues to grow with many more sightings over the last few weeks. I’ve seen several water voles in the ponds, which is great news. I think they may have been there all winter and have kept a low profile. That colony is growing and there are now several new burrow entrances. The only place that doesn’t seem to have any water voles is the stream behind the ponds. Having said that there is so much vegetation on that stretch that there could be dozens of water voles but you would never see one. A good indication that a water vole is in dense vegetation is that you can hear them eating and biting through the grasses and reeds. Quite often there appears to be a huge battle going on, with a small clump of 
reeds shaking madly before one reed is pulled down and the munching starts.
The water voles seem to be fairing well along the whole of the Anton. Sarah spotted one near Asda’s and I’ve also seen droppings and a burrow entrance at Anton Lakes.
Sarah held a water vole survey training day at the start of May, and during the practical part of the day at Rooksbury found some otter spraint at one of the entrances of the holt we built earlier in the year. It’s fantastic news and another spot I will regularly check for more spraint.
Highlight of the
month was seeing my first baby water vole at Rooksbury. Just a few inches long he or she was feeding with an adult by one of the bridges a great moment.
The Great Crested Grebe’s that had two tiny chicks riding on the back of one of the adults, now have two large chicks following the adults. A Mallard family I saw last week with eight chicks is down to only three chicks this week, but they are getting quite large as well. There are several moorhens with chicks in tow as well at the moment. I’ve also seen my first Damselflies of the year mainly blue and black striped Southern Damselflies.
roup of volunteers who will hopefully become a major part of the River Anton Enhancement Project. The group will initially be guided by Jim and Sarah, but importantly will be completely separate from either TVBC and the Wildlife Trust. The group will have its own funding, mainly from grants, and will comprise a small working committee and a host of volunteers, who in time, with some expert input, will carry out any work required and decide on the best way to maintain and improve the Anton. This is a huge and exciting project and will require lots of enthusiastic and willing volunteers for the group to succeed and see the Anton cared for by members of the public in Andover.Of course the water voles on the Anton have kept me busy with more monitoring and more surveys. The po
pulation at Rooksbury continues to grow with many more sightings over the last few weeks. I’ve seen several water voles in the ponds, which is great news. I think they may have been there all winter and have kept a low profile. That colony is growing and there are now several new burrow entrances. The only place that doesn’t seem to have any water voles is the stream behind the ponds. Having said that there is so much vegetation on that stretch that there could be dozens of water voles but you would never see one. A good indication that a water vole is in dense vegetation is that you can hear them eating and biting through the grasses and reeds. Quite often there appears to be a huge battle going on, with a small clump of reeds shaking madly before one reed is pulled down and the munching starts.The water voles seem to be fairing well along the whole of the Anton. Sarah spotted one near Asda’s and I’ve also seen droppings and a burrow entrance at Anton Lakes.
Sarah held a water vole survey training day at the start of May, and during the practical part of the day at Rooksbury found some otter spraint at one of the entrances of the holt we built earlier in the year. It’s fantastic news and another spot I will regularly check for more spraint.
Highlight of the
month was seeing my first baby water vole at Rooksbury. Just a few inches long he or she was feeding with an adult by one of the bridges a great moment.The Great Crested Grebe’s that had two tiny chicks riding on the back of one of the adults, now have two large chicks following the adults. A Mallard family I saw last week with eight chicks is down to only three chicks this week, but they are getting quite large as well. There are several moorhens with chicks in tow as well at the moment. I’ve also seen my first Damselflies of the year mainly blue and black striped Southern Damselflies.
James Cooke
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