Arvicola terrestris – The Water Vole

An important part of ensuring that the Wildlife Trust runs smoothly is the care that is taken of the staff and volunteers who drive our business of conservation.

Each month a simple questionnaire is whizzed around on email so that individuals can comment on how things are going. This time my colleague Elaine asked us all to give any reasons we have for enjoying working with the Trust. My two most important statements (excluding the strong birthday cake culture that we have!) are those of ‘enjoying the work’ and ‘achieving conservation results’.

Our current focus for conservation programmes is the lovely little Water Vole. This creature is an icon of what conservation is all about. It is harmless, does not damage river banks or nearby crops, does not carry any serious diseases and the chance of this small vegetarian harming livestock is remote.

But the Water Vole is in big trouble. Gloucestershire Wildlife Trust surveys, completed periodically across the past thirty years, have revealed a massive decline in water vole numbers.

On the Cotswold Rivers, those small populations that still survive are all too small and isolated for long term survival. If no action is taken, this harmless and attractive creature will become extinct here as it has done already in Cornwall and is perilously close to in Devon.

As much as we like Stephen Fry, we would not want him puffing along the River Churn in twenty years time looking for our last remaining vole! But the case is frighteningly close. Gloucestershire people can not expect rhinos, dolphins, manatee and other exotic creatures to be conserved if we do not look after our own native wildlife.

The great news is that there are good value solutions and they are already working in another part of the county. My colleague John Field has been busy for the last 18 months turning conservation theory into new voles. Working with landowners, who are the single most important people in water vole conservation, he has been successful in achieving measurable results (more voles!) along lengths of watercourse in the Vale of Berkeley. The techniques are simple and straightforward, but their application takes time, patience and careful riverside management. These factors are not cheap but the results are very encouraging.

Water voles need plenty of riverside cover, toothsome grasses and sedges, and no Mink. To achieve this mixture, cattle and other large creatures must be kept well back from the waterside with fencing and overhanging trees thinned or pollarded. Predatory Mink are the critical ingredient in the water vole recipe. Careful and continuous control of this efficient non-native predator is critical. American Mink ‘hoover up’ Water Voles, the two animals just don’t get along together!

In the course of designing the next phases of the Trust’s vole programme we have enjoyed much amusement whilst planning and budgeting furiously. The vole-word has become part of a continuous stream of odd jokes, much in the vein of Radio 4 ‘I’m sorry I haven’t a Clue’. Puns about Voleunteers, Voletmeters and Revoleution give fun to the working day. However, the cleverest joke of all was made by the photographer from Cotswold Life who came to take photographs for their October edition in which I'm interviewed. Her instant response to one of our dodgy vole jokes was to respond with "Volegarians"!

Water Vole (c) Steven Dorey