The RSPB Give Nature a Home Discovery Day at the RSPB reserve at Sandy was a great success with lots of people coming along on a dull and windy day to see our Nature Table. Unfortunately most of the small mammals had decided to stay at home so we didn’t get find many in the traps we had set up around The Lodge.

• In the car parks we found 1 Male and 1 Female Bank Vole weighing 18g, and 1 Male weighing 14g.
• In the garden under bushes and piles of brash wood we found 1 juvenile Water Shrew weighing 12g and 1 juvenile female Bank Vole weighing 13g.
• Under the bird feeders we found 1 female Bank Vole weighing 16.5g which had at least 5 ticks on it. The mammal showed signs of weakness and ill health, and it was also not as lively as the other Bank Voles so clearly the ticks were having an impact on the vole’s health.