Let's hear it for Clethrionomys glareolus!

What a mouthful of a name for such a tiny creature! The Bank Vole, Clethrionomys glareolus.
All the voles are cuddly, being generally snub-nosed, titchy-eared and short-tailed, but the Bank Vole, with its russet coat, is the most endearing of them all.
And my Bank Vole is back after an absence of two summers. OK, it's probably not the same one, but it behaves in exactly the same way. It scurries between the hebe and the plum tree like some whirring clockwork toy.
I have no idea whether its home is under the hebe or in the roots of the plum tree. Maybe it has two homes, maybe it's a bigamous male with a wife and kids in each place. I don't know.
All I know is my Bank Vole is back and bringing moments of joy to temper the humdrummery of an old scrote's existence. You are very welcome to come and have a look.