Bank Vole
Myodes glareolus
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Blunt-nosed and chestnut-red — the vole most likely to appear under a Dumfries bird feeder.
A small, round-bodied rodent with a blunt nose, small eyes and ears half-hidden in fur, and warm chestnut-red upperparts fading to cream below. The tail is about half the body length — longer than a field vole's, shorter than a mouse's. Bank voles favour hedgerow, woodland with a thick understorey, scrub and mature gardens around Dumfries, and are often seen in daylight, unlike most small mammals.
Behaviour
Bank voles are active in short bursts through both day and night, and are more willing to climb than field voles — they will go up into bramble and hedge for fruit and hazelnuts, leaving a neat round hole gnawed in the shell. Their diet is broader than a field vole's, taking fruit, seeds, nuts, fungi and insects as well as grass. They tunnel through leaf litter and among roots rather than in open grass.
When to see it
Quick facts
- Family
- Voles, lemmings and hamsters (Cricetidae)
- Size
- Body 8–12 cm plus a 4–6.5 cm tail
- UK status
- Common and widespread; not protected
Photo by Charles J. Sharp, CC BY-SA 4.0, via Wikimedia Commons