The loud piercing redshank call cut through the air as I waded up the edge of the river Dearne. At first I could not see the bird, although the calls told me it was close by. Then a movement gave it away. Stood on top of a fence post on the opposite bank, blending into vegetation behind it despite the white belly, bright red legs and beak. My progress up the river brought me too close, and off flew the bird upstream. It was to make several more appearances during the day, disturbed from open mud by the bankside, or just patrolling its territory.
My purpose in the river was to look for water vole, or at least their field signs. The task is to identify where the voles are, and are not, along the river Dearne corridor from Cudworth down to the confluence with the river Don. The resulting information will enable the Environment Agency to promote habitat improvements to help the water vole population expand and colonise new areas. Given the huge decline in their population and the number of sites they occupy, ambitious plans covering large areas are necessary. As the lead partner for the water vole within the UK's Biodiversity Action Plan, the Environment Agency is leading by example.
Splashing up the river means that water voles themselves are rarely spotted. Instead it is piles of feeding remains, two- to four-in lengths of grass, reed, rush or almost any green plant, left behind at a favourite spot, usually under cover. Latrines, breeding territory markers of droppings made and scent marked by females, create excitement, as do lawns of closely cropped vegetation around holes in the upper bank. All these were on the river Dearne and more. Tunnels in the vertical bank, above and below the water line, runs through the surface vegetation, tracks in the soft silt, all add up to a picture of water vole occupation. To cap it all a water vole swam doggy paddle-style round a clump of soft rush just in front of me. Startled, it flipped over and swam rapidly back upstream before clambering out and scuttling into a tunnel for safety.
