An unexpected encounter

During a walk one warm evening this week along the lane towards Slade Cross something shot across the road. Was it a mouse or a vole? Unusually, instead of disappearing into the undergrowth as we approached like most small mammals, it lingered on the edge of the tarmac allowing a close up view.

It was a vole, but was it a Field Vole or a Bank Vole? They are quite difficult to tell apart but

the reddish brown fur and length of the tail, at least 50% of the body length, makes me believe it to be a Bank vole as the Field vole is a grey brown colour and its tail is only 30% of its body length.(But I am happy to be corrected!).

It was quite bedraggled and on closer inspection its rear left foot appeared to be being dragged behind it, so perhaps it had escaped from the clutches of a cat or even an owl. This didn't seem to hamper the speed at which it moved though and it continued to dash from one side of the lane to the other for quite some time, seemingly oblivious to us and our dogs presence as you can see from this short video clip.

People living nearby said they had seen a vole earlier that day feeding under their bird table and it to had a damaged foot so despite that it seemed to be able to fend for itself quite successfully! We felt privileged to have been able to get such good views of it, it's amazing what you can see just walking locally.