\n\tWander into the countryside and you can easily spot birds and wildflowers. Even if you cannot see the birds you can often hear them calling despite being hidden in trees and undergrowth. But how many mammals will you see? Deer are not yet seen around Wenvoe but you might spot the odd fox or badger. Evidence of moles comes with the molehills often visible in early Spring before the vegetation gets too tall. And if you venture out on a warm summer evening you will see bats whether in the centre of the village or out in the countryside. But what about the many small mammals that we know are out there – the voles, mice and shrews? Not only do we not know how they are faring locally but even nationally there is very little information on how well or badly they are doing.\n<\/p>\n
\n\tWe do know that the UK has lost 500 native species of wildlife in the last 200 years including the extinction of 12% of our land mammals. Hedgehogs are down in the last 40 years from 30 million to 1.5 million. To our children and their grand-children Mrs Tiggy Winkle and Ratty (the water vole in Wind in the Willows) will be as remote as the wolf in Little Red Riding Hood (officially Britain's last wolf was killed in 1680). Here is a quote from the Act for Wildlife website:\n<\/p>\n
\n\t‘Conservation must start at home in our back gardens, parks, cities and open spaces. The wildlife we have in the UK is fascinating and diverse and it is our heritage and responsibility’.\n<\/p>\n
\n\tSo what about our small furry friend in the photo? It is a field vole found alive and well on the Upper Orchid Field. They favour tussocky grasslands and orchards. One of the reasons the grass on the Community Orchard has been allowed to become tussocky is to encourage them and we know that they are establishing themselves there although whether there are 2, 10 or 100 we really do not know. Hopefully one day someone with the necessary survey skills will be able to give us a clue.<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"
Wander into the countryside and you can easily spot birds and wildflowers. Even if you cannot see the birds you can often hear them calling despite being hidden in trees and undergrowth. But how many mammals will you see? Deer are not yet seen around Wenvoe but you might spot the odd fox or badger. Evidence of moles comes with […]<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":4,"featured_media":679,"comment_status":"closed","ping_status":"open","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"jetpack_post_was_ever_published":false,"_jetpack_newsletter_access":"","_jetpack_newsletter_tier_id":0,"footnotes":"","jetpack_publicize_message":"","jetpack_is_tweetstorm":false,"jetpack_publicize_feature_enabled":true,"jetpack_social_post_already_shared":true,"jetpack_social_options":{"image_generator_settings":{"template":"highway","enabled":false}}},"categories":[49],"tags":[59,132],"jetpack_publicize_connections":[],"jetpack_featured_media_url":"https:\/\/i0.wp.com\/wenvoe.org.uk\/wp-content\/uploads\/2016\/08\/SEPT-Field-Vole-head.jpg?fit=817%2C569","jetpack_sharing_enabled":true,"jetpack_shortlink":"https:\/\/wp.me\/p6cWjO-bQ","jetpack-related-posts":[{"id":4183,"url":"http:\/\/wenvoe.org.uk\/?p=4183","url_meta":{"origin":734,"position":0},"title":"Ash Trees Disaster","author":"Alan Williams","date":"27th January 2018","format":false,"excerpt":"\u00a0 Ash trees are one of our natives and are particularly common around the parish. In face we have spent 10 years trying to eliminate them from the meadow part of the Upper Orchid Field. But what would our countryside look like if they all went? This is not as\u2026","rel":"","context":"In "Nature Notes"","block_context":{"text":"Nature Notes","link":"http:\/\/wenvoe.org.uk\/?cat=49"},"img":{"alt_text":"","src":"","width":0,"height":0},"classes":[]},{"id":12202,"url":"http:\/\/wenvoe.org.uk\/?p=12202","url_meta":{"origin":734,"position":1},"title":"A Key Plant For Wildlife","author":"Alan Williams","date":"1st September 2022","format":false,"excerpt":"A Key Plant For Wildlife \u00a0 It features in John Constable's famous picture, The Hay Wain. It made an important and powerful wand in the Harry Potter stories. Its pith has been used by watchmakers for many years. Its flowers are used to make a rural 'champagne' and the berries\u2026","rel":"","context":"In "Nature Notes"","block_context":{"text":"Nature Notes","link":"http:\/\/wenvoe.org.uk\/?cat=49"},"img":{"alt_text":"","src":"https:\/\/i0.wp.com\/wenvoe.org.uk\/wp-content\/uploads\/2022\/09\/haywain.jpg?resize=350%2C200","width":350,"height":200},"classes":[]},{"id":7130,"url":"http:\/\/wenvoe.org.uk\/?p=7130","url_meta":{"origin":734,"position":2},"title":"Leeches Not Cute And Lovable","author":"Alan Williams","date":"3rd February 2020","format":false,"excerpt":"Leeches Not Cute And Lovable Leeches are abundant and all around us, yet few will notice them. They are not exactly cute and lovable - indeed they might generate a frisson of terror in some, particularly those who remember Humphrey Bogart being covered in them in \u2018The African Queen\u2019. Stories\u2026","rel":"","context":"In "Nature Notes"","block_context":{"text":"Nature Notes","link":"http:\/\/wenvoe.org.uk\/?cat=49"},"img":{"alt_text":"","src":"","width":0,"height":0},"classes":[]},{"id":7537,"url":"http:\/\/wenvoe.org.uk\/?p=7537","url_meta":{"origin":734,"position":3},"title":"Wild Life – Consider Making Them Welcome","author":"Alan Williams","date":"3rd May 2020","format":false,"excerpt":"Wild Life - Consider Making Them Welcome In response to the Nature News piece in the April magazine, I recall that the only time I have seen a fox in the village was many years ago at night time, running down the road outside my house, no doubt hoping for\u2026","rel":"","context":"In "Nature Notes"","block_context":{"text":"Nature Notes","link":"http:\/\/wenvoe.org.uk\/?cat=49"},"img":{"alt_text":"","src":"","width":0,"height":0},"classes":[]},{"id":8845,"url":"http:\/\/wenvoe.org.uk\/?p=8845","url_meta":{"origin":734,"position":4},"title":"Private Gardens In The UK","author":"Alan Williams","date":"28th December 2020","format":false,"excerpt":"Nature Notes Private Gardens In The UK Private gardens in the UK cover an area bigger than all the Nature Reserves combined, estimated at over 10 million acres. Just as our countryside and woodland is shrinking, so is the amount of garden space which wildlife can use as more gardens\u2026","rel":"","context":"In "Nature Notes"","block_context":{"text":"Nature Notes","link":"http:\/\/wenvoe.org.uk\/?cat=49"},"img":{"alt_text":"","src":"https:\/\/i0.wp.com\/wenvoe.org.uk\/wp-content\/uploads\/2020\/12\/Smasll-garden-pondz-225x300.jpg?resize=350%2C200","width":350,"height":200},"classes":[]},{"id":11951,"url":"http:\/\/wenvoe.org.uk\/?p=11951","url_meta":{"origin":734,"position":5},"title":"Wildlife Is All Around","author":"Alan Williams","date":"8th July 2022","format":false,"excerpt":"There Is Wildlife All Around Look up - look down; there is wildlife around. Scan the skies for a sighting of the Red Kite, being spotted more frequently around the parish. Common in Shakespeare's London where they helped to keep the streets clean by scavenging for dead animals, the Red\u2026","rel":"","context":"In "Nature Notes"","block_context":{"text":"Nature Notes","link":"http:\/\/wenvoe.org.uk\/?cat=49"},"img":{"alt_text":"","src":"https:\/\/i0.wp.com\/wenvoe.org.uk\/wp-content\/uploads\/2022\/07\/Picture24.jpg?resize=350%2C200","width":350,"height":200},"classes":[]}],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"http:\/\/wenvoe.org.uk\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/posts\/734"}],"collection":[{"href":"http:\/\/wenvoe.org.uk\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"http:\/\/wenvoe.org.uk\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"http:\/\/wenvoe.org.uk\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/users\/4"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"http:\/\/wenvoe.org.uk\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Fcomments&post=734"}],"version-history":[{"count":5,"href":"http:\/\/wenvoe.org.uk\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/posts\/734\/revisions"}],"predecessor-version":[{"id":767,"href":"http:\/\/wenvoe.org.uk\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/posts\/734\/revisions\/767"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"http:\/\/wenvoe.org.uk\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/media\/679"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"http:\/\/wenvoe.org.uk\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Fmedia&parent=734"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"http:\/\/wenvoe.org.uk\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Fcategories&post=734"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"http:\/\/wenvoe.org.uk\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Ftags&post=734"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}