Water Vole and Marsh Frog exhibit at the British Wildlife Centre 14/03/10

Home to Northern Water Voles and Marsh Frogs (we ony saw the frogs). Note the ready-made vole holes!

A superb small collection and host to this year\'s IZES UK Zoo Collectors\' Fair.

That is an amazing enclosure. I have never seen anything like it before. It is so different from any other small mammal enclosure I have seen and it looks like they get a large amount of space.

It's your typical water vole enclosure which are used in various zoos for breeding programmes, which is brilliant as it offers the rodents plenty of hiding places and a life that, if it wants, can be as secret as it's one in the wild; not so great for the visitors though, but they come second IMO. Derek Gow, who set up the first successful breeding programme of water voles in the 90's at New Forest Nature Quest, experimented with breeding pairs in outdoor enclosures like these and others in a 'visitor-friendly' indoor enclosure with underground and underwater viewing: But even in that it turned out the best way to see them was with webcams.

Glad to see such an exhibit at times where people complain at once if the animal is not presented in a fishbowl and of less interest for the public. Where's the "thumb up" buttom when you need it?