Volunteers needed for water vole monitoring

A WILDLIFE charity is asking for volunteers to record sightings of endangered water voles.

Water voles were once a common sight along riverbanks and waterways, but during the 20th century their populations experienced a dramatic decline due to the intensification of agriculture, loss and fragmentation of habitat, pollution of watercourses and predation by non-native American mink.

The impact of mink has been particularly devastating – between 1989 and 1998 the water vole population crashed by almost 90%.

Since then conservation groups have been working hard to improve habitats and control mink numbers but monitoring how water vole populations have responded is crucial. By keeping a closer eye on water voles, conservationists can respond quickly if a crisis happens in the future.

In 2015, the People’s Trust for Endangered Species (PTES) launched the first National Water Vole Monitoring Programme (NWVMP). Following two successful years, this May PTES is once again calling for existing volunteers and new recruits to survey sites for signs and sightings of water voles to find out how populations are faring across the UK.

Last year PTES received data from 404 sites across England, Scotland and Wales, of which 185 (46%) had water vole signs present. The distribution of positive sightings was skewed towards Scotland, partly due to the large number of sites surveyed there, but there were occupied sites across the UK from Cornwall to the Highlands.

PTES is looking for more volunteers to survey sites this year to ensure all regions have enough sites being surveyed to get a clear picture of water vole numbers across the UK. In particular, more surveyors are needed to take part in parts of Wales, north east England, southern Scotland and the West Midlands.

Volunteers are asked to survey one of the nearly 900 pre-selected sites across the UK, recording all sightings and signs of water voles along a 500 metre length of riverbank during May. Sites that are already being surveyed can also be registered with the programme.

Though no prior experience is required, volunteers will need to learn how to identify water vole field signs.

Emily Thomas, key species monitoring and data officer at PTES, said: “We’ve had a fantastic response to the NWVMP over the last two years and the data collected so far is invaluable.

“With the help of volunteers, we will continue building a robust dataset which will be used to monitor trends in the water vole population and to help guide future conservation efforts”