Wednesday 6 September 2017

Tehidy Wildlife Country Park - Part Two

Back on the 19th August I posted a small blog relating to a Bank Vole sighting at Ryan's Field in Hayle, At that time I didn't know the difference between a Bank Vole and a Water Vole to ID my subject,  Whilst I read up on the difference between the two I also came across information stating that Bank Vole could swim and surface dive and should not be mistaken for Brown Rats that could swim but not surface dive,  Well if that is the case nobody informed the Brown Rat that I watched surface diving today,

Enter my Brown Rat

Its picked up on the smell of the small pond in the car park at the entrance to Tehidy and it looks like its feet need a bit of a clean up,

It enters the water from a fallen tree

The rat swims out across the pond and then it happens!!  It surface dives and I can see it swimming underwater and manage to catch its sense of enjoyment (seen below) when it resurfaces several metres from where it went under,

It climbs up into pond margin vegetation looking a bit like  ' A Drowned Rat ' but was otherwise very happy,

After posing for a few more images the Rat was raring to go again,

It dived from a thin branch back into the water again and that was the last that I saw of it

It had been nice to share the natural pleasure of Tehidy in perhaps the unlikely company of a Brown Rat which I am sure would not have happened had I not been at a location where the public and wildlife are subjected to closer contact on a daily basis.

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