Bank of comfrey

I happened to notice the comfrey today. I was down by the river, doing my regular monitoring of small mammals for Gloucestershire Wildlife Trust. The vegetation has shot up dramatically since I was here two weeks ago.

The comfrey was in full flower, with the bank full of the purple bell flower heads and broad green leaves.

A couple of the rafts were not accessible easily from the path, with waist high nettles to bash through.

There were no signs of life though on any of the rafts. The site where I had suspected water voles previously was barren. I did notice though a scum build up around the raft. On the way back along the brook, I met the farmer who said it had been polluted for about a week. The main river is clear, so this must be coming from further upstream.

There is a national reporting line to register this with the Environment Agency so these incidents can be tracked and investigated.