We use the words overwinter, hibernation, and diapause when we are writing about the reserve’s inhabitants’ preparations for the cold weather. It’s easy to assume that they are interchangeable terms but that is not so: let’s take a closer look.
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Our field voles (Microtus agrestis) are having a winter break from their long breeding season. They don’t hibernate; instead they grow a thick, very dense coat to shield them against the cold, and their metabolic rate almost doubles in order to maintain their body temperature.
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Tawny owls come to the reserve to hunt our plentiful field voles.
According to the sort of scientists that count things, there is only one mammal in the UK more numerous than we humans: Microtus agrestis, the field vole. The latest estimates put the field vole’s population at 75 million while our own is only 67 million.
Header image: field vole by Sam McMillan (CC BY-NC 2.0) flickr.com
Though you may not have seen them, there are field voles all over the park. Here ten things you may not have known about them.
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Southwick Country Park Nature Reserve 