Bank voles are common at Ninewells wood. I sometimes see them dashing out to grab some bird food that has been spilt from the bird feeder I have set up.

I also have a couple of hides in the wood, one is just a few poles with some tarpaulin wrapped around, and that was my first hide. I don’t use it much now as it is not so comfortable and when you are inside it is almost completely dark and you have just one small viewing hole. So you are not really aware of what is going on around you except for the very small field of view in front of you. However in that hide I did have a little friend. I called him (or her) Vladimir.  I thought that the name Vladimir had some bad connotations with the Ukraine invasion so I thought that to redress the balance I should call the little vole that came to visit Vlad the vole, as he or she was sweet and quite friendly and trusting. It visited because I would eat my lunch in the hide and inevitably drop some crumbs which were gratefully received by Vlad.

The thing about names is that just because one person is perceived as being not so good , then that does not make the name bad, it is just bad luck for the name. Afterall Adolf was a good enough name prior to 1935 but somehow I doubt there were many children named Adolf in the UK during the 1950’s even now. So I decided on Vladimir. When you name something an animal or an object it usually gets a name which has at least the same first letter as the thing it is naming ie Donald Duck or Clara the Cow. Better if the first two letters are the same, ie Ellie the Elephant I suppose I could have called the Vole, Voltaire, but that might be a bit pretentious.

Now I have not been to the old hide for some time ( over a year) so maybe Vlad is no longer with us. The new hide which was built last Christmas with the aid of my Son in Law and my Grandson also has Voles visiting but we are not yet on first name terms so it is Mr or Mrs Clethrionomys, which is a bit of a mouthful. The present Voles could well be offspring from Vlad as Voles can have up to 5 litters a year and are sexually mature at just 5 weeks. They have a maximum lifespan in the wild of about 18 months. So by now Vlad is probably no more and the ones I am seeing now could be his/her great great great great grandchildren.

OK bye bye.