Ratty is back ... and he’s set up home in a Tesco car park
THEY’RE extinct in many parts of the country, so you would think that those water voles that are trying to thrive would want a quiet backwater.
This colony, however, are happy to share their home with to-ing and fro-ing Tesco shoppers.
While customers noisily wheel trollies to their cars, the family of voles go about their daily business in a nearby broo, perhaps even nibbling on discarded fruit.
Immortalised by Ratty in The Wind in the Willows, vole numbers in the UK have plunged around 90 per cent in the past 30 years.
The presence of these creatures in Whitchurch, Shropshire has been highlighted by Kate Long, a water vole surveyor for the Shropshire Wildlife Trust.
She said locals found it extraordinary the animals were living alongside a supermarket but she believes it shows how tolerant of noise the animals are. Tesco regulars have given the voles names such as ‘Russell’ – because they can be heard making rustling sounds as they chomp on stalks.
Kate – who writes a blog about the voles – said: ‘Water voles are so compliant and they are happy to pose and potter around. It’s great so many people are interested in safeguarding this colony.’
Shopper Pauline Jones, 66, said: ‘It’s lovely to see the voles here in the brook. It’s surprising they are not disturbed by the noise of the traffic. All the shoppers are protective of them.’