Luchfheior
This little mammal averages 10-13 cm and weighs up to 50 grammes but it has much to teach us. It is extremely common, so much so that a nineteenth century zoologist said of it ‘the field, or short-tailed, vole, Microtus agrestis, is very abundant from the north of Scotland to the Isle of Wight but is unknown in Ireland. A later naturalist added that it is ‘all over Scotland except Lewis; but is abundant in Skye, Mull and the Uists.’ In Orkney the field vole is replaced by the common vole M. arvalis, which is larger and often called the Orkney vole.
To the scientist it is Microtus agrestis, from mikros Greek: small and otus ear; agrestis is Latin meaning ‘belonging to the field’, ie small eared field vole. But it has many vernacular names such as: cane, hill mouse, land mouse, meadow mouse, or grass mouse. |
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In southern counties of England very appropriately it is the dog mouse and also short-tailed field mouse. The New Statistical Account for Leochel-cushnie in Aberdeenshire includes mention of the ‘earth mouse’ which may be another name for the short-tailed field vole. In Gaelic it is Luch-fheior (mouse of the grass) which it shares with the shrews and the harvest mouse.
Names tell us a great deal about many creature and I particularly like ‘dog vole’ because my long succession of Labradors seemed to regard them much as I do cocktail canapés, they are bite sized morsels. The dogs even had a special, circular wag which announced clearly ‘Do not disturb me I’m hunting’. The only other animal I have seen hunting them with such concentration is the fox; I remember fishing very early one summer morning when a vixen unconcernedly hunted voles quite close to me. Her technique was different she froze watching movment in the grass, then there was a pounce and a snap of teeth.
Pennant noted this predilection in the eighteenth century: ‘Of the short-tailed mouse or vole, it has been observed that in housing a rick of corn the dogs have devoured all the mice of this species that they could catch, and rejected the common kind; and that cats on the contrary would touch none but the last’.
The common field vole, Microtus agrestis, has become the ubiquitous inhabitant of road verges where it attracts that bird of the motorway the kestrel. It also occurs quite high in the heather of upland moorland, for example the long rank grass on the lower slopes of Dùn Coillich are riddled with an interconnecting maze of vole runs.
Vole plagues have been recorded in Europe recurring during the 19th and 20th centuries. 1876 was the date of the historic vole plague in the Scottish borders. Then followed plagues of 1883, and 1891 leading to Board of Agriculture report in 1892. The most alarming was in Scottish borders from 1891-3 when some 90,000 acres were over-run with voles. Such plagues could be disastrous: during 1892 vole plague entire plantations were destroyed. At Rannoch during the winter 1863-4, 140 acres of plantation were attacked particularly Scots pines of 8-15 years old.
Frances Pitt describes seeing a vole plague in North Wales where the animals had eaten every blade of green stuff and there was no grass left. Kestrels, owls, stoats and weasels hastened to the scene and had a fine time until disease broke out in the hordes and the voles vanished as quickly as they had appeared
Field voles start breeding early in the year and are very prolific. After a gestation of about four weeks there are 3-9 young per litter with 3-4 litters per year. Without adequate predation from owls and kestrels huge populations may build up. They feed on coarse grass and tree bark, which they gnaw from trees giving them the reputation of the forest enemy No 1. They appear to have a predilection for apple trees especially Cox’s Orange Pippins, ring barking young trees a few inches above the ground. Green droppings full of partially digested grass are typical of field voles
At school I was taught that field voles provided a model of population fluctuation. Unchecked they breed to produce huge numbers, once they reach a peak natural control from predators and disease will suddenly kill the vast majority. Today we have a ‘plague’ of people; in the past predators (unlike the voles, from our own species) and disease have decimated the population. Today it is becoming unsustainable. There was a time when nuclear holocaust seemed the likely cause of reduction of human population; now it seems more likely to be a virus. HIV came near to it; how about H5N1?
©Robin Hull
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