Member Article

The voles are back in town!

Following the successful release of over 300 water voles into Kielder Forest in June following a 30-year absence, the Kielder Water Vole Partnership has released an additional 255 voles into two further sites in the vast 650 square kilometre area.

This release is part of Restoring Ratty, a partnership project delivered by Northumberland Wildlife Trust, Forestry Commission and Tyne Rivers Trust, aimed at the reintroduction of a much-loved British species - known as ‘Ratty’ in Kenneth Grahame’s children’s classic Wind in the Willows - to the Kielder Water & Forest Park area of Northumberland.

The project is supported thanks to money raised from National Lottery players through a grant of £421,000 from the Heritage Lottery Fund (HLF).

As with the previous release, the aim is to restore populations of this endangered mammal to the Kielder catchment of the North Tyne with a view to their eventual spread throughout western reaches of Northumberland.

The water vole was once a common and familiar mammal along our ditches, rivers and streams. Unfortunately, habitat declines, pollution of waterways, industrialisation of agriculture, housing development and predation by American mink which escaped from fur farms, have all led to severe water vole declines since the 1960s. It’s thought that 94% of water voles have disappeared from places in the UK where they were once prevalent.

The Forestry Commission has done much to improve the water vole habitat across Kielder Forest, leaving open areas next to water courses after felling, thus allowing banksides to have more light and a greater range of plants to grow, which is perfect for water voles.

This second release this month is of voles bred from a population captured in the North Pennines during September 2016 which then went on to spend the winter at the Derek Gow Consultancy in Devon (specialists in water vole conservancy) where they have been cared for and bred to provide large numbers of young. This release of 255 will boost the water vole population and increase their genetic diversity.

To celebrate the event, the Kielder Water Vole Partnership has released the last of three films titled Restoring Ratty: The Journey Alnwick by film maker Alan Fentiman. The film charts the project from the capture of 16 water voles in the North Pennines last September, their transportation to the captive breeding centre in Devon, to their return to the region with their young off-spring for release in June. The film, a must see for wildlife lovers, can be viewed on the project’s Restoring Ratty Facebook page, by visiting www.nwt.org.uk/restoringratty or on YouTube, by searching for Restoring Ratty: The Journey, or at Kielder Castle, Tower Knowe Visitor Centre and Northumberland Wildlife Trust’s new Wildlife Discovery Centre at Hauxley, Druridge Bay.

This was posted in Bdaily's Members' News section by Sue Bishop .