Water voles are being returned to the River Wey catchment, having previously been declared locally extinct. They’re key to riverside biodiversity and amazing ecosystem engineers, but they’re also Britain’s fastest declining mammal.
The Black Down & Hindhead Supporters have been helping the local National Trust rangers and the partners in this exciting project and our Chairman, Bob Daniels, was at one of the initial release sites at the end of August seeing some of the first animals to be given their final health checks and installed in special staged-release pens.
A total of 150 water voles have been released at six carefully chosen sites on the upper reaches of the Wey, between the Black Down estate and Headley (near Bordon), thanks to a partnership of local people, landowners and organisations, led by the National Trust, the Environment Agency, the Black Down and Hindhead Supporters, the River Wey Trust and the South East Rivers Trust.
This release was the first in a programme of reintroductions over the next two years which aims to provide a sustainable population of water voles that will breed and flourish, repopulating 1,000 square kilometres of the River Wey catchment, from the South Downs to the Thames. The project demonstrates the power of collective action to restore nature and biodiversity.
Water voles play a key role in the biodiversity of riverside ecosystems, and the news of their re-introduction to the River Wey has excited local and national press including the BBC. https://www.bbc.co.uk/news/articles/c99mee90j0do
David Elliott, National Trust Lead Ranger for the South Downs West, said: “These micro ecosystem engineers and delights of the river have all but disappeared on our watch. I knew the last of them here, more than 20 years ago. Now we are standing on the doorstep of their return, it’s an exciting moment.
“What’s unique about the project is the collaborative effort of so many people, coming together to enable the return of a species. From people with a tiny stretch of the river at the bottom of their garden, to major landowners and conservation organisations, all taking positive action. We live in times when there is huge dismay and often a feeling of powerlessness over the state of our rivers. This project demonstrates how citizens, organisations and communities working together can make change happen across a whole landscape. We can do much more for nature as a collective, rather than on our own.”
The work has been funded by the National Trust, the Environment Agency’s Water Environment Improvement Fund and the Black Down and Hindhead Supporters of the National Trust. The breeding programme is by Derek Gow Consultancy. Partners across the catchment include the River Wey Trust, South East Rivers Trust, and multiple organisations, private landowners and dedicated volunteers. The project covers 1000 square kilometres of river catchment in Surrey, West Sussex and Hampshire – equivalent to 1% of England, or 2.5 times the size of the Isle of Wight.
Water voles play an important role in the biodiversity of riverside ecosystems. They are a source of food for struggling predators like barn owls and otters. Where they graze on grasses and rushes, they help reshape habitats and create space for rare plants to grow. Yet during the course of the 20th century, the population of the water vole in England declined by 93% and has been in further rapid decline since 2000.
Water voles form part of many people’s childhood memories thanks to the character Ratty in The Wind in the Willows – not in fact a rat, but a water vole. Once regularly spotted at the river bank, they are now Britain’s fastest declining land mammal. The distinctive ‘plop’, as they enter the water, was a familiar sound for past generations. One of the key reasons for this decline is predation by North American mink, which escaped from fur farms in the 20th century. Population numbers of water voles, and numerous other species of wildlife such as kingfishers and sand martins, have declined dramatically.
Now multiple partners and landowners across the River Wey catchment, led by the National Trust and Environment Agency are standing together to reverse this decline. It follows 2 years of coordinated activity by river volunteers and monitors along the 87 mile waterway to prepare the way for them to thrive. Thanks to these collective efforts they are now ready for the return of the water vole to the River Wey.
Paul Davy, Environment Agency Catchment Coordinator for the River Wey, said: “We were keen to support this vital project and help re-establish the water vole, a much-loved native species and ecosystem engineer that has been absent from the Wey catchment for many years. This project has been a fantastic example of a catchment-based approach and effective partnership working. In addition to providing funding, the Environment Agency has helped the National Trust establish the network by drawing on our local knowledge and broad network of contacts within the catchment.”
Local volunteer Bryony Chapman, a member of the Black Down and Hindhead Supporters of the National Trust, has played a key role in the project. She said: “This is the reason I joined the local Supporters committee, to get involved in projects like this one, returning water voles to the River Wey. Our local National Trust rangers’ passion and enthusiasm is remarkable and they inspire a wide range of people to get involved in restoring nature. It’s brilliant that the funds raised by the local Supporters group can help them realise some of their really exciting projects. I can’t wait for my first local sighting of one of these lovely creatures, particularly knowing what an important role they play in the whole wetland ecosystem.”
For more information on these remarkable animals: https://www.nationaltrust.org.uk/our-cause/nature-climate/nature-conservation/water-voles-conservation
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