Water Voles Spotted Enjoying Classic French Cuisine
The water vole, better known as ‘Ratty’ from The Wind in the Willows, is the UK’s fastest declining mammal and is known to have a largely vegetarian diet consisting of grass and plants. However, a recent survey along the Kennet & Avon Canal in Berkshire has revealed that these shy, fury animals have developed a taste for the Continent and have been snacking on frogs’ legs, as well as the odd snail.
British Waterways’ ecologists Robert Randall and Oda Dijksterhuis carried out the surveys. Robert explains: “We found a number of typical water vole feeding areas that were littered with dead frogs, minus their legs. As a water vole’s diet is normally vegetarian, this rather gruesome scene isn’t what we’d expect to find at all.
“We’re not really sure why it’s happening, but as the evidence coincides with the water voles breeding season we think it may be that pregnant mothers are snacking on frogs’ leg as they lack protein in their diet. This is incredibly unusual behaviour and as far as we know this is the first recorded evidence we have of them eating frogs’ legs, so it’s a really exciting discovery. We’ll be keeping an eye on what happens next over the coming months.”
If you see a water vole, frog or any other wildlife on your local canal or river, British Waterways wants to hear about it. Just make a note of what you see and where, and log your sighting at www.waterscape.com/wildlifesurvey
With Strangles Awareness Week just around the corner (5-11 May), vets are being encouraged to share a survey about the disease with their horse-owning clients.
