It looks like things are looking up for Britain’s water voles.

This compact and furry little animal was the model for Ratty in The Wind in The Willows. But, sadly, since the 1990s its numbers have fallen from around seven million [...]]]>

It looks like things are looking up for Britain’s water voles.

This compact and furry little animal was the model for Ratty in The Wind in The Willows. But, sadly, since the 1990s its numbers have fallen from around seven million to roughly one million now. The reason is not altogether clear as the burrows used by the water vole had been protected since the early 1980s. However, as of April 2008 it also became illegal to kill or injure the animal itself. Quite why previously only their burrows were protected is unknown, but progress has definitely been made.

To help even further, 200 voles have been reintroduced back into Llangorse Lake in Brecon, Powys. The Environment Agency have released the captive bred voles after clearing the area of mink – one of the water voles major predators. Being small enough to follow the voles down into their burrows, the mink were just as happy to take young voles as they were taking young birds. Mink are descendents of released animals and seem to be having a devastating effect on colonies of voles and birds – a fact highlighted at a site in Deeside, Flintshire. It’s thought that in 2008 between 60 and 70 fledgling terns were taken from the site by a single colony of mink now thought to number 400. The Environment Agency is now looking to trap the offenders in an effort to redress the balance.

But the wilds of Wales are not the only areas to see the return of this elusive and charming little animal. A hundred have been released in Devon, and Scotland too has seen the colonisation of various areas, including the Trossachs. Much of this new activity has been helped by the rebuilding of the water voles’ habitat, the loss of which has been a major contributory factor since the peak of the population in the 1990s.

Waterways all over the UK are also looking to encourage the vole’s return. Even in the capital, the River Wandle – which was declared a sewer in the 1960s – has been cleaned up by the London Wildlife Trust, which hopes the animals will return there by 2012 after a £58,000 grant from Natural England assessed the river’s suitability.

So having read so much about this little bundle of fur, where are you likely to see them? Well they range all over Europe and it would seem one of the best areas to see them in the UK is in the Cairngorm area of Scotland. Despite their favored habitats being banks, ditches, dykes and slow-moving rivers and streams, voles have been found on hillsides up to an altitude of 900 meters. Their favorite food is grass and other vegetation, so it’s not surprising that voles also inhabit areas of grassland.

The animal is an excellent swimmer and from a distance is often mistaken for a rat. But look closer and its furry tail and blunt snout mark it out – quite apart from the difference in physical size (voles are much smaller than rats). So while you are out and about over the coming months keep an eye open for the water vole. With luck the chances of you seeing them will be getting better and better.

Phil Pickin writes Walk magazine’s regular Wildlife Diary