First water vole post of 2010....

The river is still very high (but not on flood watch), as is the ditch running through the centre of the Ock meadow

Which itself is water logged:

Previously, both the river and the ditch have been locations of water voles in 2009, but as the pictures show, it's very unlikely that there are any water voles there now.

However, on Sandford Brook, flowing to the north east of the Ock meadow there are what looks like water vole burrows in the bank of the stream:

This is the site where I saw signs of feeding last year:

http://viewsoftheock.blogspot.com/2009/06/return-to-stream.html

If these are water vole burrows, they may not be inhabited and could be remains of a extinct colony.

But a close up of one of them may show signs of feeding and possibly footprints

Perhaps not enough evidence to yet make a conclusion, but it is somewhere to keep an eye out as spring approaches.