Is this just a rat? (Don’t open if you don’t like rats)

[Era]

This chubby little thing was happily pottering around today by a lakeside. I thought it was a rat but it had a really flat face and was chubby and very furry. Is it just a fat rat or is it something else?

Definitely a water vole!

Great Scot, it's a big 'un.

Voles are small, water voles are larger

Don't water voles have webbed feet or is that water rats?

Water rats is just a name for Water Voles.

As this thread shows for obvious reasons!

Rat. Tail is quite wrong for a water vole and the fur is too light coloured.

ah I see.

Stupid question - but how far from water can water voles live? I've seen rats that look like that in my garden and did think they were too fat to be rats. There is a river in the field behind my garden. Could I have voles instead of rats??? hopeful face

It has furry ears: Water Vole.

https://en.m.wikipedia.org/wiki/European_water_vole

They don't look furry to me. A lot of the photos of water voles I've just been looking at you can barely see the ears at all.
Whereas the tail is long and furless which indicates a rat.

I think it may just be a rat with very fluffed up fur making it look rounder and partially hiding the ears.

So cute!

Depends how big it is, it's either a water rat or a vole, voles are about hamster size, rats obviously bigger

I would like to thank you for your warning in the title. I still opened it and went eek! But genuinely thanks.

Brown Rat all day long. Can't believe the number of people saying vole. Look at the long tail! Rules out any kind of vole straight away.

Or a vat. 😃

It’s a furry mammal with a long tail and fur?

im not sure whether it’s a rat or water vole. Either way its by a river away from people doing no harm

Aren't water voles quite shy and difficult to spot? We used to see them frequently on the bank of the canal, usually scurrying into hiding, but I haven't seen one for ages. That one looks quite confident.

That's a water vole. I've owned a heck of a lot of rats and none of them have looked like that.

Water voles have longer tails than garden voles. It's a water vole.

Water voles have longer tails. They use them swimming.

Half vole half rat?

Yes they do but it’s still about 60 percent of their body, please google.

I think you've stumbled on a new species Op! Therefore I think we should name it Arvicola-Rattis-Era... or ARE for short!

Definitely too round to be a land rat, these are a couple of my rats and although pets they are the same shape as wild. They have longer faces and are more streamlined.

Very cute though whatever it is!