Comments on: Vole science

By: chrislintott

chrislintott — Wed, 14 May 2008 08:58:03 +0000

fountains out of vole hills is sheer genius. And Nick, please do say hi – it’s nice to know someone is watching.

Chris

By: Nick

Nick — Wed, 14 May 2008 00:42:18 +0000

Nice blog Chris. Found it through your wiki page.Theres very little more satisfying than someone who updates their blog often so keep it up!

Sky at Night is amazing as usual, so fascinating and accessible for the casual viewer, as well as containing something for the academics.

‘Bang’ looks like a good read too.

PS. Also I saw you in Oxford circus a few months ago, but you were walking in the opposite direction. I should have said hi, or would you resent a strangre stopping you in the street?

By: Waveney

Waveney — Sun, 11 May 2008 18:27:41 +0000

The best protection for Watervoles are Otters. Otters particularly dog otters can’t stand Mink in their territory and kill them.

By: Alice Sheppard

Alice Sheppard — Sun, 11 May 2008 17:15:57 +0000

On the subject of Vole Science. I think I wrote a Biodiversity Action Plan for the water vole about two and a half years ago (perhaps I’m wrong, but it doesn’t seem to have ever been published, rather like the other hundred or so I wrote – all voluntarily!). One thing I learnt was that the British vole is fairly unique in that it is adapted for water, and continental voles are adapted for life on land, in fields and so on. There has also been a 99% decline in the abundancy of British water voles, and they are worryingly endangered. This is largely due to the introduction of mink. Water voles hide by kicking up a lot of mud in the water around them, but mink – unlike most predators – find them anyway.

So, yes, voles are interesting too, aren’t they? Or are we just making fountains out of vole hills here?

By: madge

madge — Sun, 11 May 2008 11:11:32 +0000

Which vole? Arvicola? Lagurus? Microtus? Be specific DAMMIT! : )

By: Alice Sheppard

Alice Sheppard — Sun, 11 May 2008 09:41:34 +0000

And patience is a virtue. What fun would life be if all the correct answers were put in front of us, like food in a restaurant by a hacked off and underpaid waitress? Has anyone reading this ever read “Rebel on a Rock” by Nina Bawden? A girl is shocked. “But Albert, I thought you knew everything!” “No! Imagine how boring it would be, to know everything. Time to die, then!”

Besides, if somebody found out the answer, someone else would only dispute it!

Excuse that piece of silliness, but if people are reacting that way, that makes something a physicist said to me a year ago at Sussex University. I explained that I wasn’t doing physics because I hadn’t been any good at maths in school, and hadn’t been allowed to do A level – I’d been encouraged to give up anything maths/science related as soon as I was permitted to by law, and stick to arts subjects. There is an urge to give up immediately if all the answers don’t come as if by intuition. This bloke reckoned it was because people are so used to being spoon-fed by television, and because that was what helped schools do well in the League tables.

Neither the Universe nor scientists owe anybody “all the answers”, and if people feel short-changed, they should grow up and realise that what the answers might be must be even more complex and fascinating than can be explained at the moment. Isn’t that more interesting than knowing everything now?