What is "bank vole"

n. A species of vole, (taxlink Myodes glareolus species noshow=1), former genus names (taxlink Chletrionomys genus noshow=1) and ''Evotomys''.

The bank vole (Myodes glareolus; formerly Clethrionomys glareolus) 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 in length. The bank vole is found in western Europe and northern 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.

The bank vole lives in woodland, hedgerows and other dense vegetation such as bracken and bramble. Its underground chamber is lined with moss, feathers and vegetable fibre and contains a store of food. It can live for eighteen months to two years and is mostly herbivorous, eating buds, bark, seeds, leaves and fruits and occasionally insects and other small invertebrates. It readily climbs into scrub and low branches of trees. It breeds in shallow burrows, the female rearing about four litters of pups during the summer.