Skokholm or Skokholm Island is an island 2.5 miles (4.0 km) off the coast of Pembrokeshire, Wales, south of the neighbouring island of Skomer. The surrounding waters are a marine reserve and all are part of the Pembrokeshire Coast National Park. Both islands are listed as Sites of Special Scientific Interest.
Skomer or Skomer Island is an island off the coast of Pembrokeshire, in the community of Marloes and St Brides in west Wales. It is well known for its wildlife: around half the world's population of Manx shearwaters nest on the island, the Atlantic puffin colony is the largest in southern Britain, and the Skomer vole is unique to the island. Skomer is a national nature reserve, a Site of Special Scientific Interest and a Special Protection Area. It is surrounded by a marine nature reserve and is managed by the Wildlife Trust of South and West Wales.
Middleholm, also known as Midland Isle, is a small island lying off southwest Pembrokeshire in Wales, between the island of Skomer and the mainland in the community of Marloes and St Brides. It is roughly circular with a diameter of about 1,210 feet (370 m) and an area of 21.5 acres (8.7 ha). It is separated from the mainland by Jack Sound and from Skomer by Little Sound.
The European water vole or northern water vole, is a semi-aquatic rodent. It is often informally called the water rat, though it only superficially resembles a true rat. Water voles have rounder noses than rats, deep brown fur, chubby faces and short fuzzy ears; unlike rats their tails, paws and ears are covered with hair.
The eastern meadow vole, sometimes called the field mouse or meadow mouse, is a North American vole found in eastern Canada and the United States. Its range extends farther south along the Atlantic coast.
Clethrionomys is a genus of small, slender voles. In recent years the genus name was changed to Myodes, however a 2019 paper found that Myodes was actually a junior synonym for Lemmus, thus making it unusable. As such, Clethrionomys is re-established as the proper genus name. At the same time, several species were moved to the genus Craseomys, so members of both genera are referred to as red-backed voles. This genus was described by Johannes von Nepomuk Franz Xaver Gistel under the pseudonym "G. Tilesius". Some authors cite the taxonomic authority as "Gistel, 1850", whereas others still use "Tilesius, 1850".
The long-tailed vole, in some areas known as the San Bernardino long-tailed vole, is a small vole found in western North America. They have short ears and a long tail. Their fur is gray brown with light gray underparts. They are around 18 cm (7.1 in) long with an 8 cm (3.1 in) tail and weigh about 50 g (1.8 oz).
The prairie vole is a small vole found in central North America.
The short-tailed field vole, short-tailed vole, or simply field vole is a grey-brown vole, around 10 cm in length, with a short tail. It is one of the most common mammals in Europe, with a range extending from the Atlantic coast to Lake Baikal. These voles are found in moist grassy habitats, such as woodland, marsh or on river banks. Although they make shallow burrows, they usually build nests above ground. They are an important food source for owls and some other predators and their population size tends to peak and trough cyclically. Field voles breed prolifically, mainly in summer, but often all year round, even under snow. Females produce up to seven litters a year, each averaging from four to six young which are weaned after about fourteen days. The short-tailed field vole is both widespread and common and is listed as being of "Least Concern" by the IUCN.
The bank vole is a small vole with red-brown fur and some grey patches, with a tail about half as long as its body. A rodent, it lives in woodland areas and is around 100 millimetres (3.9 in) in length. The bank vole is found in much of Europe and in northwestern Asia. It is native to Great Britain but not to Ireland, where it has been accidentally introduced, and has now colonised much of the south and southwest.
Parechovirus B, formerly called the Ljungan virus, was first discovered in the mid-1990s after being isolated from a bank vole near the Ljungan river in Medelpad county, Sweden. It has since been established that Parechovirus B, which is also found in several places in Europe and America, causes serious illness in wild as well as laboratory animals. Several scientific articles have recently reported findings indicating that Parechovirus B is associated with malformations, intrauterine fetal death, and sudden infant death syndrome in humans. In addition, studies are being conducted worldwide to investigate the possible connection of the virus to diabetes, neurological and other illnesses in humans.
Ronald Mathias Lockley was a Welsh ornithologist and naturalist. He wrote over fifty books on natural history, including a study of shearwaters, and the book The Private Life of the Rabbit, which was used in the development of his friend Richard Adams's children's book Watership Down.
Puumala orthohantavirus (PUUV) is a species of Orthohantavirus. Humans infected with the virus may develop a haemorrhagic fever with renal syndrome (HFRS) known as nephropathia epidemica. Puumala orthohantavirus HFRS is lethal in less than 0.5% of the cases. Rarely, PUUV infection can cause Guillain–Barré syndrome.
The red tree vole is a rodent of the Pacific Northwest, found in the US states of Oregon and California. They were formerly known as Phenacomys longicaudus and have also been called the red tree mouse.
The beach vole or Muskeget vole is a rodent in the family Cricetidae. This close relative of the eastern meadow vole is endemic to the 0.87 km2 Muskeget Island, Massachusetts. Due to its relatively short period of reproductive isolation, there is debate over the beach vole's designation as a subspecies of M. pennsylvanicus.
The Clethrionomyini are a tribe of forest voles in the subfamily Arvicolinae. This tribe was formerly known as Myodini, but when genus Myodes was deemed to be a junior synonym, the tribe was renamed. Species in this tribe are:
Ceunant Llennyrch National Nature Reserve is one of several woodland reserves in the Vale of Ffestiniog in Gwynedd, Wales and runs from Llyn Trawsfynydd to the River Dwyryd, near the village of Maentwrog.
Skomer Marine Conservation Zone is an underwater marine nature reserve located off the coast of Pembrokeshire in Wales. The nature reserve completely surrounds the islands of Skomer and Middleholm, and encompasses the mainland coastline around the end of the Marloes peninsula, including the small bay of Martin's Haven.
Rosemary "Ray" Howard-Jones was a prolific Welsh painter best known for her impressionistic seascapes and paintings of the coastline of Wales, particularly of the areas around Skomer and Marloes.
Oxton in the parish of Kenton in South Devon is a historic estate long held by the Martyn family, a junior branch of the Norman family of FitzMartin, feudal barons of Barnstaple.
