Norfolk voles get Halloween pumpkin house

Two tiny voles are enjoying a pumpkin house made especially for them to play in

A woman has created a Halloween house from a pumpkin - especially for voles.

The tiny house - for the tiny bank voles - was made by Julie Smart near a hide she erected to watch local wildlife in a Norfolk village.

Vincey and Victor, as she has named her visitors, come to their pumpkin pad for breakfast and dinner each day.

Aware that pumpkins are poisonous to hedgehogs, she takes the Halloween house inside as soon as the voles are finished playing in their new home.

Ms Smart, an estate agency worker and keen wildlife photographer, built a hide in woodland in her village near King's Lynn in order to watch the plethora of wildlife in the area.

The two voles have been visiting for some time and this year she decided to make a house for them.

The voles use little steps to get into their pumpkin house

There is only one way in and out of the little house

"I do class them as my pets in a way," she said.

"I wanted to be creative for the voles and give them their own little home."

She cut shapes for the house's windows and made a door so they could get in and out.

She also decorated around it, adding toadstools and fruit and foliage, making it look like a woodland garden.

Ms Smart keeps an eye on the voles from inside the hide she built

"I cut little steps into the door and they run up them and then go inside where I put a tray of seeds for them," said Ms Smart.

"They run in and out all the time - like it's a toy.

"They come here for breakfast and tea every day."

She is mindful of the fact that pumpkins can be fatal for some wildlife such as hedgehogs, with the Woodland Trust warning people not to dump pumpkins in the open when they are finished with them.

Ms Smart watches hers carefully and once the voles stop playing, she takes the pumpkin house inside, and does the same in the evening once they have had their supper.