Well yet again Rooksbury and its wildlife have given me another wow morning. On Sunday morning I had a quick visit to Rooksbury and apart from a few dog walkers and the odd jogger Rooksbury was quiet. By the bridge at the end of the Mill lake by the sluice gate was some otter spraint the first I’ve seen for a while anywhere at Rooksbury. Standing on the next bridge over the river itself I soon spotted one and then two water voles up stream busily eating, cleaning, swimming and eating some more, in fact the things that water voles do best. Down stream I heard a rustle a nestled between the water-cress leaves was the smallest water vole I’ve seen in five years of surveying and monitoring. He was tiny but getting a picture of him proved very difficult as the water cress leaves seemed to be bigger than him. Then when I thought I wasn’t going to get a picture, three feet away from him in the open was his brother or sister. I’ll let the pictures speak for themselves.

When I thought things couldn’t get any better, I walked up to the ponds and whoosh a king fisher flashed past me only a matter of feet away and then behind it a second, two brilliant blue arrows glistening in the early morning sun. I’m sure there was a third or even a forth king fisher as I kept seeing the pair and every now and then a single bird. My quick morning visit was now into its third hour.

The water vole survey season is now drawing to a close and Steve and I finished the last section at Rooksbury in the second week of September with a little help from Charlotte with mixed results plenty of droppings and burrows but no sightings. Louise and I have also been out checking the refugia for crayfish, but again all have been empty. Finally I’ve also carried out two more bat surveys with Aidan and Louise. On both nights we had plenty of activity with mainly the common pippestrelle but also a good mixture of other bats.

James Cooke