On the 14th May I attended the first meeting of a new, and so far un-named, group 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 population 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

What better way to spend a bank holiday weekend than at watching some wildlife. I had two visits to Rooksbury over the weekend a saw some fantastic sights. Rooksbury itself is beautiful at this time of year as I hope this photo of Barlows lake shows taken just before 8 am on Saturday. The trees look fabulous with all the fresh leaves and buds.

There are a number of baby birds around including at least two Great Crested Grebe chicks riding piggy back on one of the parents while the other parent dives for food before resurfacing and passing the food to the chicks. Taking a break from the water vole surveys gave me a chance to watch patently for any movement. On Saturday morning I saw three and then on Monday I saw six. At last, a sighting of a water vole in the ponds. I’ve noticed a number of fresh burrow entrances over the last few weeks but no other signs of ratty. Then on Monday a large bunch of grasses on the bank started to rustle and shake uncontrollably a sure sign that a water vole was about. First his blunt nose and then the rest of his body slid out from the grass’s down the bank and into the water, his mouth pulling three or four long lengths of grass along. He dived down with lunch or bedding only to reappear and climb back to the long grasses and take another three or four blades back under the water moments later. He did this four more times. I expected him to carry on now obviously taking bedding to the burrow rather than lunch, but instead of taking more grass he started to swim across the pond. Startled he dived down and in the shallow clear water I could see him not swimming but running along the bottom of the pond, leaving a trail in the mud, his fur glistening silver as trapped air bubbles in his fur caught the sunlight like jewels. He disappeared into a burrow on the other bank, but it was an amazing site to see him so clearly under water. I spotted the same or may be another water vole at the opposite end of that pond later in the morning, as well as three between the two bridges by the carpark and droppings on the Anton above the mill. Another water vole had me laugh out loud as it felled three tall and thick reeds. Each reed must have been well over a foot high but this little fellow made light work of cutting them and moving them to the waters edge, before having a break to eat some more manageable smaller vegetation.
I hadn’t realised but there may have been up to 5 kingfishers at Rooksbury over the winter but sadly they all seem to have moved to pastures new for the summer, I certainly haven’t seen one for over a month now."

James Cooke

25 April 2009

Last week saw at long last the start of the water vole surveying season and three visits to the River Anton at Rooksbury. Due to health and safety requirements the surveys need to be completed by two people. My colleague and fellow water vole nut is Steve, another wildlife trust volunteer, who amongst other things helped out when we built the otter holt a few weeks ago. Before we could start the surveys we needed a quick brief from Sarah about safe working near water and some extra equipment. On Saturday 18 April the three of us met at Rooksbury to get the latest Wildlife Trust training and advice. Sarah handed out our waders, life jacket, and throw line which would allow us to enter the river and the necessary maps of Rooksbury for us to carry out the surveys. To work out a sensible method for the surveys and also to hopefully to see some water voles Steve and I carried out a quick check of all the river and stream systems at Rooksbury. Unfortunately though we didn’t see a single water vole, but that was to change………..
……..the following Tuesday Steve and I met up again laden down with all the equipment needed to carry out a good survey, binoculars, maps, waders, life jacket, depth poles, throw line and of course lunch and we were sporting the latest fashion must have, the Wildlife Trusts Volunteer polo shirts. We decided to start the surveys at zone 6.1 which covers the stretch of river between the two bridges adjacent to the car park. We gave the area a once over and saw our first water vole near to the otter holt. This was Steve’s second sighting of a water vole so it was an excellent start to the day. The survey process entails sketching a map of the river sector including the vegetation on both banks and all the water vole, otter and mink field signs that we see. In that one stretch we noted 18 latrines, several burrow entrances, lots of feeding areas and one small water vole foot print. Steve used the waders to great effect and found many of the field signs that otherwise would have been missed had we surveyed from the bank alone. After lunch we finished off zone 6.1 and started 6.2 which covered the whole of Barlows Lake. We only found one latrine but also an otter spraint, both at the top end near a connecting pipe than runs from the ponds. On the way back to the car park we spotted another, or possibly the same, water vole in the same area that we had seen the one in the morning but this time sitting on a branch in the centre of the river eating some type of water weed. We watched for a while until he eventually swam away down stream giving Steve a perfect view of their swimming profile, with the head and upper part of the back above water level.
Finally this morning Steve and I met up again and carried out part of the survey on zone 6.3 this time with very limited results. We found a few water vole field signs but no sightings. We spotted some droppings, that we are fairly sure were water voles but rather than been in a normal group they were quite literally one dropping every two feet or so. We were again blessed with another glorious day and even though we saw no water voles the few signs that we saw indicate that there is a good certainly one good colony of water voles at Rooksbury from the A303 up to the ponds. Further surveys will hopefully show water voles through out the sight.
With a total of 7 surveys to be carried out a Rooksbury plus more along the rest of the river Steve and I are in for a busy Summer.
James Cooke

Great news the otter holt we built last month is already in use, unfortunately it was a rabbit I saw hop into one of the entrances and after 10 minutes waiting it still hadn't come out. Hopefully with some closer inspection we might find some evidence that an otter is also using it. Further up river near the other holt I found some very moist otter spraint full of fish bones and scales. Hopefully being so moist it means the spraint was very recent and that the otter is still in the area.
I spent the morning at Rooksbury one day last week and counted 6 water voles, and was lucky to see three in the same area at once. I suspect further up stream that I scared one away as there was a different "plop" as I walked along the river bank. It's so pleasing to see these little mammals apparently doing so well at Rooksbury. With the surveying season just around the corner let’s hope the story is the same along the whole of the River Anton. The ponds at Rooksbury also look as if there should be water voles present again perfect habitat and there are some new burrow entrances.
On the same day I had a quick walk around Anton lakes, to the North of Andover. No signs of any water voles on the stretch of river I looked at but I did see my first 2 Mallard ducklings a sure sign that Spring is really here

James Cooke

I think it’s safe to say Spring has arrived. I spent two hours the other Saturday morning at Rooksbury and watched a very large water vole stuff his or her face with a mixture of greenery from both the river and the bank. It was great to observe this little creature after all the visits with out seeing one. There are even more latrines and droppings along the river banks a sure sign that the breeding season is rapidly approaching. With luck over the next week or so the sightings of this adorable creature will increase dramatically. The kingfisher was back at his local hunting ground by the Stew ponds and I also spotted it further down stream after a tip off from a local photographer. I must say he had some stunning shots of him! Something I’ve not mentioned before are a pair of great crested grebes, I’m not sure how long they have been at Rooksbury, but they seem very at home in the main lake.

Last Sunday a group of volunteers, along with Jim from TVBC and Sarah and Cat from the wildlife trust, built and installed an otter holt along the stretch of river between the two bridges by the car park. We were fortunate to have the best day of the year so far, and under clear sunny skies, the group dug a flat bottomed hole about 6’ x 3’ x 2’ with two channels running down to the river. To say it was hard work was an understatement but by lunch time the hole was ready for the construction of the holt. A series of breeze blocks were placed in the newly excavated hole to form walls and to make 6 interconnecting chambers. A 5 meter flexible tube was placed in each channel to allow access to and from the river, to stop the wind blowing straight into the holt a sharp bend was put in each tube. Six paving slabs were laid over the breeze blocks to provide a roof and finally the soil that was dug out of the hole was shoveled over the paving slabs and over the tubing to hide the construction work. While we worked a water vole across the river kept a beady eye on us as it ate more water plants. Once finished the otter holt was almost invisible with the two entrances hidden in the reeds and a pile of dead branches laid over the top disturbed soil.

So why do we need to build otter holts? Simple, our river banks are too well kept. The otters require either log piles or large root systems to create their holts. Unfortunately many fallen trees and branches are being cut up and removed and in many places trees with the wrong root systems are planted. So with out the correct habitat the otters won’t hang around. Further up stream there is another holt built by the wildlife trust some weeks ago and already there are signs that an otter has used it, so with luck the otters will soon find there new home. Another plus point of having otters on the river is that they will help to keep any mink at bay.

James Cooke

Rooksbury has been fairly quiet over the past few weeks, although with the recent warmer weather lets hope that there will be a burst of activity in the forth coming weeks. The number of water vole droppings along the river bank between the two bridges either side of the car park has increased dramatically and it is just a matter of time to see how many water voles are present along this short stretch. There is talk of a mink roaming near the mill site and this maybe the reason that I have seen no droppings near the bridge or along the banks there. TVBC will, I understand, be setting the mink rafts with traps in the near future and we can be free of at least one more of this non-native species.
Unfortunately someone has broken and removed the sluice gate at the end of the larger lake at Rooksbury causing the water level in the lake to drop by nearly a meter. Hopefully the sudden force of water let go by the removal will not have washed away or damaged too much habitat down stream. It may also mean that any spawned eggs in the lake near to the sluice will have been washed away and others in now shallow water may have been damaged. Only the next few months will reveal what damage has been done.

Last Sunday, 22 Feb, I spent a very enjoyable day carrying out habitat management along the banks of the River Anton Lakes. The aim of the day, organised by the TVBC and HWT, was to cut back and fell some of the trees which over hang the river letting more light fall on the banks. This will allow the natural growth of bank side vegetation which in turn will provide food and shelter for all sorts of insects and mammals including hopefully the water vole. After a quick refresher on how to cut down trees safely we were let loose along the bank. It was amazing what a difference only removing a few branches made, and by lunch time one part of the bank near the source of the river was bathed in sun light. We laid some cut branches along the side of the river channel to encourage silt build up and vegetation growth. Much of the river channel is too wide, so by doing this we are narrowing the channel which improves the transport of silt, which in turn creates clearer water. With the rest of the wood, we created habitat piles on the banks, creating valuable habitats for small mammals, and hopefully otters! The removal of several fallen branches from the centre of the river on Sunday soon had the water running freely and revealing the white chalk bed once more.
By the end of the day work had been carried out on both river banks covering a distance of a few hundred yards and the increase in light over the banks was significantly higher.

James Cooke

I’ve had several more visits to Rooksbury over the past few weeks with several good spots. No water vole sightings yet, but I’ve found more droppings between the two bridges either side of the entrance to the carpark. As well as droppings there seem to be a number of burrow entrances, so it is looking promising that there might be at least two water voles along that stretch. The newest sighting is in an area where there are a lot of branches in the river. I only noticed the droppings because there was a wet spot on an other wise dry section of branch and it looked like something had climbed out of the river and sat for a moment letting its wet fur drip over the branch. Sure enough about two foot along the branch were the droppings. Also on that stretch of the river I saw a stealthy water rail making his way along the bank, my second sighting of this striking bird at Rooksbury.

There are plenty of garden/park birds around at the moment including thrushes, robins, great, blue and long tail tits, chaffinch, bullfinch goldfinch, goldcrests and wrens. As much as I like the wrens I am constantly disappointed, when from the corner of my eye, I see a small brown object flitting between the reeds. Is it a water vole? No, it’s another rascally wren! Other birds of note include the kingfisher. I spotted him the other day, or rather I didn’t. I had found a nice quite area and I was watching two grey squirrels chasing each other, leaping happily between branches. I decided to look at the opposite bank in more detail and as I scanned the bank with my binoculars my view was blocked by a tree no more than 20 feet away on my side of the river and in it sat the kingfisher. How long he had been there I don’t know. Needless to say, as usual with me and kingfishers by the time I got my camera ready he was gone.

There are also a number of grey wagtails down by the rivers edge as well. These little grey and yellow birds, (but not as much yellow as yellow wagtails), fly from fallen branch to fallen branch flicking their tails constantly when they’re not in flight.

My “What’s this of the Day”, came when I spotted a blob of green jelly last weekend. I wasn’t sure what it was but I’m told it may be caddis fly eggs. I’ll keep an eye out for more around the stew ponds. Watch this space!

To prove there are water voles at Rooksbury here is a picture of a latrine and also a water vole taken at the end of last year.

James Cooke