Biodiversity
Water Voles
The Water Vole, previously a common mammal found throughout the UK, is now our fastest declining mammal and now one of our rarest. As a result of efforts to reverse this decline in the Cotswold Water Park by the Biodiversity Team, local landowners and volunteers, Water Voles are rapidly increasing throughout the Cotswold Water Park.
Key Facts
- The Water Vole is a vegetarian rodent living on river banks and other wetlands. It lives in smal colonies in burrows in the banks of rivers. It was once commonly found throughout the UK.
- Water Vole populations in the UK have declined by a depressing 94% in the past few decades and indeed have become extinct in many parts of the country. Much of this is due to habitat loss and degradation. A considerable decline in Water Vole populations has been seen more recently however, due to predation by the American Mink.
- The American Mink, introduced to the UK for fur farming, has, through accidental and deliberate releases, successfully colonised much of the British Countryside. And it is still spreading. The Mink has a devastating impact upon Water Voles, capable of completely eradicating entire colonies from large sections of river within a single breeding season.
Water vole and Mink
Water voles feed mostly on aquatic plants, and live in burrows by the side of slow-flowing ditches, streams & rivers.
Water Vole populations in the UK have declined by a depressing 94% in the past few decades and indeed have become extinct in many parts of the country. Much of this is due to habitat loss and degradation. A considerable decline in Water Vole populations has been seen more recently however, due to predation by the American Mink.
In the Cotswold Water Park, however, it’s a different story. As a result of partnership working between the Cotswold Water Park Society, volunteers & local landowners, the Cotswold Water Park is one of the few places in the UK where Water Voles are recovering and expanding their populations.
In partnership with Environment Agency, English Nature, The Wiltshire Wildlife Trust Water Vole Recovery Project and Gloucestershire Wildlife Trust and many other groups, the Cotswold Water Park Society has established a programme of coordinated Mink Control in the area. The aim is to significantly reduce Mink populations in the CWP and surrounding area to enable the Water Vole to recover.
Results demonstrate that this wor has been very successful, enabling a quick and widespread recovery of Water Vole populations across the CWP.
Additional benefits of Mink Control have includedincreases in waterbird breeding success at several locations.
Good places to see Water Voles today include Shorncote Reedbed, Cokes Pit LNR and the River Thames between Neighbridge and Ashton Keynes.
Download article about Water Voles & Mink in the Cotswold Water Park
Download report summary, January 2004
For further information on this project, please contact Gareth Harris, Biodiversity Officer on 01285 861459 or email gareth.harris@waterpark.org.
