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Richard Bell’s Wild West Yorkshire nature diary Sunday, 20th July 2008
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IT DIDN’T OCCUR to me to sniff the long-
It’s years since I saw a water vole; when I first started going out with my sketchbook I could expect to see them every summer evening down by the canal. Perhaps mink aren’t present at Askham Bog. When escaped mink spread to our local waterways, water vole numbers plummeted. This morning we saw scratchy marks on a log beneath a bridge across a drainage channel which might indicate that otters visit the reserve; they might oust any resident minks.
Askham Bog is just 5 minutes drive from the centre of York. The circular boardwalk
gives you dry-
Link: Yorkshire Wildlife Trust
I sketched these as we walked around and added the watercolour later.