On 21/11/2015 10:51, Martin wrote:
On Fri, 20 Nov 2015 21:55:17 +0000, Vir Campestris
wrote:

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...

They are voles. They are a big enough problem in the north east of the
Netherlands and the adjacent part of Germany for the destruction they cause to
be visible from satellites.

They being lemmings, or they being the voles causing the problem?

I checked. Lemmings are closely related, but not a vole (I was surprised
- I thought they were).

I can easily believe some vole or other is causing the problem. I'd be
very surprised if it was water voles.

Andy

On 23/11/2015 09:13, Martin wrote:

The Dutch press calls them mice.
http://www.dutchnews.nl/news/archive...ected-by-mice/

http://www.telegraaf.nl/binnenland/2...n_kapot__.html

Finally the slow wheels of my mind have come around. Back in January I
wrote this:

https://de.wikipedia.org/wiki/W%C3%BChlm%C3%A4use

My wife's Collins dictionary leaves off the trailing 'e'.

There's an image there "Rötelmaus (Myodes glareolus)". That's the
same species name as the thing known in English as the Bank Vole.

The field or short-tailed vole is Microtus agrestis; that seems to be
the Erdmaus https://de.wikipedia.org/wiki/Erdmaus. ("Earth Mouse")

Note that Wühlmäuse has an umlaut on the a, and a trailing e, that is
missing from Erdmaus. Glad to see it isn't just English that has crazee
spielings . I'm also not clear what Rötel means. It's the name of the
iron mineral haematite, and in the plural is German measles... perhaps
russet or such.

If in German it's referred to as a mouse (maus) then I wouldn't be
surprised to find you use similar terminology. Is there such a word as
vole in Dutch?

Andy

Am 24.11.2015 um 21:53 schrieb Vir Campestris:
......... I'm also not clear what Rötel means. It's the name of the
iron mineral haematite, and in the plural is German measles... perhaps
russet or such.

The name "Rötelmaus" is due to the reddish shine of the grey fur.
reddish = rötlich. BTW: rubella in German is "Röteln" and there is
another word with "Rötel": Rötelstift meaning red chalk.
Cheers Gotthelf

--
http://www.wolmershaeuser.de

On 25/11/2015 11:55, Martin wrote:
They must have some way of differentiating.

Acccording to Google Translate Water Vole is waterrat.

http://en.bab.la/dictionary/english-dutch/vole
vole = woelrat

Dutch veldmuis is translated as vole, but that is probably because a field mouse
is a synonym for vole in the USA.

Kamers Dictionary has Veldmuis translated as Field Mouse, Vole

Our local Dutch newspaper described the pest as field mice.

Van Dale "Pocket" English - Dutch dictionary doesn't contain the word vole.



I looked at this when the problem first started getting reported. What's strange
is the problem is being ignored by politicians to the point that nobody has
tried to extract money from the EU. Attempts by farmers to get Dutch governmant
aid/compensation failed. When all the dykes leak like sieves something will be
done about the problem. Something similar happened in the 19th century

English Wikipedia on Water Vole
https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/European_water_vole
links me to the Dutch
https://nl.wikipedia.org/wiki/Woelrat

A little rummaging suggests to me that voles may be woelmuizen, a mouse
a muis, and a rat is a ... rat. But common names aren't good guides. The
field vole here is often known as the short-tailed field mouse.

Andy
--
I speak no Dutch.