Water Voles
are at risk of extinction due mainly to the American Mink. It is believed that water vole numbers are
down by one fifth – including no water voles in Cornwall. Mink escaped from fur farms into British
canals, and are today causing a huge decline in water vole population, as they
are a mink’s favourite prey. It has been
stated that if we do not try to control the numbers of mink in our canals and
rivers, water voles ‘will become extinct in England.’ With programmes being put in place to control
the levels of mink (trapping) the population of voles should increase, although
the government will not propose funding due to the mink not being seen as an
economic threat, meaning that the funding to help save the voles is provided by
charities. Apart from the mink, the
disappearance of water meadows and riverside vegetation - which is what the
herbivore water voles live on – has helped in the decline of numbers.
Water Vole
American Mink
Darren
Tansley (small mammal specialist and Essex Wildlife Trust’s Water for Wildlife
Officer) and his team have been working exceedingly hard to boost the numbers
of vole within Essex. Darren and the
team (mainly volunteers), recently surveyed Essex waterways to count numbers of
water voles. They then caught hundreds
of water vole at Fingringhoe Wick Nature Reserve (as their habitat would soon
be flooded) and then re-homed them within the Bishop Stortford estuaries where
their populations will hopefully flourish.
Reports suggest that the water voles have settled in well at Bishop
Stortford.
Darren
Tansley
