A new analysis of data collected over ten years by a network of experts led by The Wildlife Trusts has revealed that water vole distribution has declined dramatically - attributed to habitat loss, water pollution and built development.
There has been a 30% decline in the places where the river mammals once lived across England and Wales during the survey period 2006 - 2015.
While the new analysis reveals a slight increase in distribution in recent years – attributed to some successful conservation efforts by The Wildlife Trusts and others – the full data covering the whole ten years paints a bleak picture.
The Wildlife Trusts and many other individuals and groups carry out river restoration and reintroductions of water voles across the UK. At a local level, the projects appear to have been successful; however, the successes are not enough to reverse the national distribution trends.
Habitat loss, water pollution and built development have led to massive declines in the number of water voles since the 1960s – this has been exacerbated by predation by North American mink which were introduced to Britain for fur farming in the twentieth century.
The water vole is the UK’s most rapidly declining mammal and has been lost from 94% of places where they were once prevalent. The latest data revealing a ten year decline of 30% shows an ever-worsening situation: their range is continuing to contract.
The Wildlife Trusts are calling for Government and Local Authorities to enable the creation of a Nature Recovery Network, as set out in the Government’s 25 Year Plan for the Environment.
The Trusts want the Nature Recovery Network be underpinned by a new Environment Act to protect, link and create areas of habitat which help wildlife move and spread out, benefitting water voles and a range of other wildlife. Funding should be increased to expand water vole conservation efforts including for landscape-scale restoration schemes.
Landowners are also being asked to manage river bank habitat sympathetically to help water voles.
The Wildlife Trusts have been at the forefront of reintroducing water voles and caring for the wild places that they need to survive. In 2017, for example, Northumberland Wildlife Trust released 700 water voles across Kielder Forest – the largest reintroduction ever undertaken.
Click here to download the report National Water Vole Database and Mapping Project
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