Short-tailed Vole

One of the seed feeders at the observation hide at Wallington Hall hangs beside a twiggy pyramid erected by the wardens to provide cover for the visiting birds. When I visited the hide last weekend, a tiny creature popped its head out of a hole in the earth under this structure and looked around. The ground surrounding the hole was covered in wasted sunflower seeds, some of which had germinated. The creature, a short-tailed vole, emerged from the hole and fed briefly from the seeds before returning underground down an adjacent hole.

Short-tailed Vole (Microtis argretis)
Because of the poor available light, it was quite hard to process a record picture from the deeply shadowed original. I hope the following will serve to confirm identification.

Short-tailed Vole (Microtis argretis)