Bank vole
The bank vole (Myodes glareolus, formerly Clethrionomys glareolus) is a vole of woodland and scrub. It is abundant in Britain and active by day and night, and is easy to see.[1]
Description
The bank vole has a warm red-brown back. Its tail is about two-thirds the length of its body, and its ears are more prominent than the field vole's. The head and body measure 8 to 12 cm, the tail 3.3 to 4.8 cm, and adults weigh 14 to 40 g. It opens nuts neatly, leaving tooth marks on the inner rim of the hole, and eats the flesh of rose hips.[1]
History and range
Bank voles appear in Mesolithic woodland faunas, such as the one at Morton in Fife.[2] Large forms with more complex teeth live on Skomer, Raasay, Mull and Jersey, islands that have no field voles.[3][1] Around 1900 the bank vole was thought to be rather scarce. Live-trapping from the 1940s and searches of discarded milk bottles in the 1960s showed that it is common in the right habitat. Its numbers rise and fall with the autumn seed crop in deciduous woodland.[4]
Ireland
The bank vole is not native to Ireland. Couzens and colleagues say it was introduced there from Germany in the 1920s.[1] Yalden and Barrett say it was first confined to the south-west and has spread at about 3 km a year, fastest where there are good hedgerows.[3]
See also
References
- ↑ 1.0 1.1 1.2 1.3 Couzens, Dominic; Swash, Andy; Still, Robert; Dunn, Jon (2021). Britain's Mammals: A Field Guide to the Mammals of Great Britain and Ireland (Updated ed.). Princeton University Press. p. 69. ISBN 9780691224862.
- ↑ Yalden, Derek; Barrett, Priscilla (2010). The History of British Mammals. T & AD Poyser. ch. 3. ISBN 9781408128718.
- ↑ 3.0 3.1 Yalden, Derek; Barrett, Priscilla (2010). The History of British Mammals. T & AD Poyser. ch. 8. ISBN 9781408128718.
- ↑ Yalden, Derek; Barrett, Priscilla (2010). The History of British Mammals. T & AD Poyser. ch. 9. ISBN 9781408128718.