On 18/11/2015 02:05, Christina Websell wrote:
Subspecies.. now that can be difficult to define. I think that the voles
that my German friend has that are a major agricultural pest there and look
identical to our endangered water voles (and even have the same name) are
not the same thing we have. I think the German voles are a sub species.
They are the bane of her life. They eat roots off every tree she plants.
They eat most of all the veggies she plants. I think she needs to bomb her
land to get rid of them as nothing else works..she sets traps and gets a
few, her cat gets some but the voles in Lower Saxony will just eat
everything you plant. There no work there so you need what you plant to
keep yourself alive. Most people keep hens and grow pumpkins.

There are lots of vole species. I doubt very much if there are enough
water voles to be a problem - for a start, they prefer to feed on
waterside vegetation.

Other species though - Lemmings are almost a sort of vole...

Andy