Water rats

To the bridge over the Hogsmill to inspect the fish there yesterday, in the margins of a visit to Bachmann's of Thames Ditton for a spot of their apple strüdel. The fish were present, but there was also a couple busying themselves with preparations for the reintroduction of water voles (Arvicola amphibius) to the Hogsmill. Preparations in the form of setting special boxes in the stream - aka aquatic mammal detection rafts - which would record the foot prints of any mink which might pass through - mink having been seen in the general area and mink being rather keen on water voles for their lunch. If mink were found, the idea then was to trap them and release them somewhere vole-free. All part of the project celebrated at reference 1.

BH got credit for remembering that Kenneth Grahame's famous water rat - Ratty to his friends - was actually a water vole. There are a number of other animals which are properly called water rats and then there are the regular rats, black or brown, genus Rattus. Quite different again are the luvvies banded together in the Grand Order of Water Rats, to be found at reference 3.

PS 1: strüdel very good. taken with our afternoon tea, a change from the sort of cakes involving chocolate and/or cream which we more usually buy from Bachmann's.

PS 2: not altogether convinced of the merits of trying to turn the clock back for animals past their sell-by date, for one reason or another. Not keen on large carnivores at all and not sure about beavers. But water voles are inoffensive enough. Not like the rather larger copyus which got people in East Anglia in a lather when I was young. Not to mention their fishy friends, the zanders. From where I associate to a previous wonder about why it is that we don't farm elephants for their ivory - given that we farm plenty of cows for their meat.

Reference 1: https://www.citizenzoo.org/our-work/water-voles/. Rafts visible towards the end.

Reference 2: The Wind in the Willows - Kenneth Grahame - 1908.

Reference 3: http://www.gowr.net/.