Field voles inhabit grassland, meadows and marshland. They prefer mainly open, grassy habitats with dense ground cover. They particularly like overgrown fields with damp tussocky grass. Field voles are also found on moors and in hedgerows. They are usually absent from cropped arable land.

Their food is primarily succulent grass stems and green leaves, however, roots, bulbs and bark are also eaten, particularly in winter when fresh vegetation is hard to find.

They are active by day and night. They can be aggressive and each one has its own small territory which it fiercely defends from other voles. They fight noisily, uttering loud squeaks and angry chattering noises. Each vole makes runways among the grass stems, usually centred on a tussock where it nests.

Although Field voles dig burrows, they usually build nests above ground at the base of grass stems, sometimes protected by a stone or log. They make small underground cavities in which grass is stored for the winter.