Water Vole Recovery in England
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By Megan Gale
Most people will likely know the water vole from The Wind in the Willows (a series by Kenneth Grahame) which featured a character named ‘Ratty’, fondly referred to as The Water Rat. In fact, it wasn’t an uncommon sight to spot a little brown body and furry tail scampering along a water way up to the early twentieth century. Unfortunately, now-a-days this is a rare occurrence, with the species classified as ‘Endangered’ in England after experiencing one of the fastest population declines for mammals in the UK.
A History of Dramatic Decline
The water vole – a once common riverine and wetland species – has suffered losses of 90% of its population since the 1970's. By the 1990's the species had almost completely disappeared from England. But what caused this dramatic decline?
1940-50's – Agricultural Intensification and Canalisation
After WW2, a policy of rapid industrialisation was prioritised by England. This led to the loss of many riparian habitats, field margins and ponds in favour of increasing agricultural productivity. This resulted in a fragmented landscape with small, isolated patches of habitat left leaving the species vulnerable.
1960's – Decline of Fur Trade
The fur trade was at its peak in the 1920's, upon its decline in the 1960's and closure of fur farms, some American Mink were ‘accidentally’ released into the wild.
1980-90's – Wild American Mink
The species spread and established stable populations across England, becoming a top predator of water vole as well as many other mustelids and waterfowl species. Our native species struggled to adapt to the American mink, which is well equipped to navigate waterways and fully capable of devastating entire colonies of water vole.
1990's – Water Voles Almost Extinct
The water vole population experience a sharp crash in population and distribution across England. This has been accounted to multiple factors including increased predation, habitat loss, over-management of waterways, water pollution, and the impacts of urbanisation.
The Importance of Riparian Habitats
The water vole is now a protected species in the UK and due to conservation action and awareness, species recovery plans, and national reintroduction projects, populations have been slowly bouncing back.
The presence of a good riparian habitat is a key factor in water vole resilience.
The more extensive and densely vegetated the riparian zone is, the more stable a population will be. This is because this habitat provides a range of benefits for water voles including:
Dense cover increasing their ability to escape predation
Diverse food source - this is vital as they have to eat up to 80% of their body weight every day!
Sheltered burrows for hibernation and breeding
Extensive space reducing competition for territories
Large food source increasing the chance of overwinter survival
Connectivity across the landscape enabling population dispersal
When all these habitat conditions are met, water voles are more likely to produce larger litters, disperse across a landscape and create resilient populations that can survive minor fluctuations.
Managing a Riparian Habitat for Water voles
Leave an undisturbed vegetated buffer along the watercourse to provide a habitat – the wider the better!
Reduce the mowing regime and management of bankside vegetation or alternate sections to provide shelter throughout the year.
Cut the bank vegetation late in summer to reduce disturbance during the breeding season.
Manage bankside trees to reduce overshading of the bankside vegetation.
Fence sections of steep bank to protect it from trampling and overgrazing by livestock.
Reduce the use of heavy machinery along the bankside to avoid habitat disturbance.
Consider channel modification to create a more complex habitat. This could include creating backwaters, reedbeds and ponds.
Monitor and implement a mink control programme if necessary.
A Brighter Future?
Due to national conservation projects including the National Water Vole Database Projects (NWVDP) water vole population trends can be tracked across the UK. Latest reports state that despite the species distribution still being patchy and unstable nationally, the species has stopped declining in certain areas suggesting that conservation efforts are slowly working. If small populations can stabilise then this could help create local strongholds for which populations could expand from. It is certainly looking more hopeful that the water vole will once again become a common sighting in the future.
References and Further Reading
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