Our work protecting water voles

Water voles have experienced one of the most serious declines of any British wild mammal, due to habitat loss and the invasive American mink. 

At the Countryside Regeneration Trust (CRT), we have been working hard with a number of organisations, including the Waterlife Recovery Trust (WRT), to protect water voles and boost their numbers.  

The water vole (Arvicola amphibius) is a semi-aquatic rodent native to the UK and is recognised for its ecological role in riparian ecosystems (the area between land and a river or stream). 

Supporting the water vole population is one of the CRT ‘s success stories - thanks to the support of our Friends. Without their help and donations, we would not be able to carry out work to survey them or control the American mink population. 

We have several water vole projects on our farms. 

At Turnastone Court Farm in Herefordshire, our conservation team has been busy carrying out surveys as part of the National Water Vole monitoring programme run by the People’s Trust for Endangered Species to see if water volves are present and to what extent. 

In the mid 2000s, water voles were released into the River Dore through the beautiful golden valley in Herefordshire, which borders the farm.  

This project, led by the Game and Wildlife Conservation Trust (GWCT), carried out extensive American mink control measures between 2006 and 2010, following habitat restoration by the Monnow Rivers Association. 

CRT conservation and mapping officer Ruth Moss explains what they have been doing recently – with the help of some volunteers. 

“We have searched along the Sough Brook (a tributary of the River Dore) for signs of water vole, including burrows in the banks, feeding signs, water vole droppings and latrines, and signs of mink and otter presence too,” she says. 

“We also deployed 10 water vole latrine rafts evenly along the brook, which we are checking once a month between May and October for water vole droppings. 

“Female water voles are territorial during the breeding season so will mark their breeding territory with a latrine, so if we find any of these then we can be fairly certain that they are breeding on this part of the brook.” 

Ruth said multiple indicators of water vole presence have already been identified. 

“We found six feeding signs, including three potential feeding stations and three accounts of vegetation chewed off at a 45-degree angle. No latrines, active burrows, mink scat or otter spraint were found during the first survey in May.” 

A repeat survey will be conducted in September, after female water voles have finished breeding and when there is a higher chance of finding field signs.  

In East Anglia, Vince Lea and Emily Coleman from the CRT’s conservation and land management team, have been working directly with Waterlife Recovery Trust – previously Waterlife Recovery East - to eradicate mink from this part of the country with huge success.  

With more funding, efforts can expand across the country to eventually eradicate American mink across the whole of the United Kingdom, allowing water voles to bounce back, as well as other wildlife such a breeding waterfowl that are vulnerable to mink. 

You can read more about their success here and listen to Ruth talking about supporting water voles below.

How you can help 

We can’t do it without you. Together we can make a difference. If you want to help us grow the water vole population in the UK, you can support the CRT in any number of ways, from joining as a CRT Friend to volunteering on one of our farms and attending our events. You can also sign-up to our monthly newsletter 'CRT News' for regular updates from our farms, straight to your inbox.