Interesting and excited to see a Water Vole today. The water vole is under serious threat from habitat loss and predation by the American mink. Many 1000’s of mink were released by animal rights activists from fur farms in the 1990s mink are an efficient killing machine of our native species, especially Water Voles. Earlier in the year, I was speaking to a water bailiff on the river Itchen where I was looking for Voles which I had seen there as a child. He said they had not been on that stretch of river for some years. They had culled over 30 mink last year. Water Voles look similar to the brown rat but with a blunt nose, small ears and furry tail. This animal ran into the hide where we were sitting this morning at Titchfield Haven Nature Reserve, and hesitated before realising he had made an error – exiting via the door he had just come in!