Water Vole (1 Viewer)

I saw a small mammal swimming in my local pool yesterday. Very flat on the water, v streamline. Was it a water vole or do rats, which are i the area, swim as good as a water vole? I have suspected water voles in the area, then found a dead similar coloured rat which confused me. Cheers

Rats can swim well but will do so very, very reluctantly.
They are fairly tidy swimmers and stay low in the water...
I would say that if it was out in the middle of the the said water..It would most probably not be a rat as they stay in the water for as little time as possible..

Woundsinger said:

Rats can swim well but will do so very, very reluctantly.
They are fairly tidy swimmers and stay low in the water...
I would say that if it was out in the middle of the the said water..It would most probably not be a rat as they stay in the water for as little time as possible..

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It was actualy swimming towards me so looking more likely a w vole not rat. cheers

Querquedula said:

It was actualy swimming towards me so looking more likely a w vole not rat. cheers

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Rats tend to lay very low in the water. Water Voles almost look as if they're floating. Imagine a Cormorant and a Dabchick!

saluki

The entrance hole to water rat's burrow is often low down close to the waterline, sometimes even on it or below it, so that they can swim straight in.

saluki said:

Rats tend to lay very low in the water. Water Voles almost look as if they're floating. Imagine a Cormorant and a Dabchick!

saluki

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at first i thought it was a fish - it was that submerged. going for rat now

This does sound like a brown rat:

- Water voles are now really quite rare in Britain, so they are very unlikely to start off with.

- The swimming style sounds more like a rat.

- I don't think it's at all correct that rats swim rarely. Brown rats regularly live by water, and will very often swim (though I think not dive).

There are some other possibilities.

Mink swim in a similar way, and though much bigger are not as large as all that. A small one might be kitten-sized, a large one cat-sized.

Water shrews are much commoner than often thought -- I think fairly ubiquitous. They are house-mouse sized, and can swim and dive freely. Very rarely seen though...

Otter -- huge! A small one would be very large cat-sized, a large one much bigger. Usually dive frequently, and very rarely seen, though becoming more common again.

Mice, other voles, moles and most (all?) other small mammals can swim perfectly well, and do sometimes fall in... I believe moles swim quite regularly.

Richard

here's one i took earlier in the year.... just for comparison.

Got fantastic views of a Water Vole this afternoon in the Lee Valley, near the Bittern watchpoint... Initially it was about 2 feet out of the water having climbed up some vegetation to feed.

Best view I've ever had, for sure!