Little Jack Horner
02nd April 2016
As some of you may have seen already my picture of a Bank Vole, Little Jack Horner, has recently won the runner up in the annual Mammal Society Photograph Competition, in the category of Brief Encounter.
Just before Christmas as I whiled away the hours in my hide waiting for Buzzards to land in a field in front of me, (they never did by the way) I ate my healthy snacks of fruit I'd taken with me.
Having eaten a couple of plums, I threw the plum stones onto the bank beside me and thought nothing more about it until a movement caught my eye a little while later.
To my amusement two Bank Voles were playing tug of war with the plum stones presumably trying to take them back to their burrows.
The next day I took a couple of whole plums with me and after a couple of hours I was overjoyed when one Bank Vole ventured out and began to nibble on the plum.
Over the course of a couple of weeks my little vole grew in confidence and if I brought him a plum, he'd literally sit in the corner of the hide with me.
Given that it was leading up to Christmas I named him Little Jack Horner.
I still see him from time to time and hoping that perhaps he will one day bring his extended family out to meet me!
Just before Christmas as I whiled away the hours in my hide waiting for Buzzards to land in a field in front of me, (they never did by the way) I ate my healthy snacks of fruit I'd taken with me.
Having eaten a couple of plums, I threw the plum stones onto the bank beside me and thought nothing more about it until a movement caught my eye a little while later.
To my amusement two Bank Voles were playing tug of war with the plum stones presumably trying to take them back to their burrows.
The next day I took a couple of whole plums with me and after a couple of hours I was overjoyed when one Bank Vole ventured out and began to nibble on the plum.
Over the course of a couple of weeks my little vole grew in confidence and if I brought him a plum, he'd literally sit in the corner of the hide with me.
Given that it was leading up to Christmas I named him Little Jack Horner.
I still see him from time to time and hoping that perhaps he will one day bring his extended family out to meet me!