Narrow river with tall vegetation on both sides. Reflections in water

Inspecting river latrines

Time to carry out the regular check on small river mammals for the Gloucestershire Wildlife Trust. There are rafts at three locations, but there’s always a different set of observations.

Yet again, I found no footprint traces on any raft. It could be that the very warm weather has caused the clay cartridge to dry up and not collect any evidence.

There really should be something, even if just rats.

Raft tied to the bank of a river
Monitoring raft

The last raft however had an enormous latrine all over. It was like the toilets at Glastonbury. It was difficult to identify what may have left them, but I suspect rat.

The fields had started to sprout maize. They were only just ploughed and drilled last time I visited so that’s a quick turnaround. I can record the progress as we go through the summer.

Ploughed field with tiny plants growing in parallel lines. Trees in background
Young maize plants

This week in 2024 ...

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