Water Vole Recovery Project

A wild, diverse, healthy river ecosystem will involve many different species working alongside each other to keep natural processes moving. Beavers and water voles are two species that have evolved together, engineering their environment to create better living conditions for themselves, which also creates niches for other wildlife. For instance, when beavers coppice trees along the watercourse they let more light in, promoting greater diversity in ground flora - food for water voles. The dams beavers make also help sustain wetlands, increasing the range of habitat. In turn, the convoluted burrow systems that water voles create provides habitat for reptiles, amphibians, birds and other mammals, and by grazing a broad mix of vegetation water voles ensure the riverbank is constantly changing. 

We will manage riverbanks to encourage greater biodiversity, including creating new reed beds beside slow-moving water, habitats where water voles and many other species will thrive. By slowing the flow of water we can re-wet dry areas, offering water voles a greater range of linked habitats. And we can create refuges where water voles can seek safety during flood conditions.

By removing selected trees and scrub we will allow more light to reach the riverbanks and wetland ground – this encourages wildlife diversity, which helps water voles find more food sources and more suitable habitats.

It is now widely acknowledged that the American mink is the key driver behind the more recent decline of our water voles. Mink were introduced to the UK in the early 1900’s for fur farming. When farms closed in the 1960’s, mink escaped or were intentionally freed. Unfortunately, American mink have no effective natural predators in the UK and have been decimating populations of several native species for many years, especially water voles. Many of these native species have no natural defences against mink since they were introduced so recently and suddenly. As a result, water voles are predated at an unnaturally high rate and are at risk from extinction. 

We will deliver a coordinated programme of mink control throughout the River Dove catchment, working with partner organisations, landowners and local volunteers to monitor and trap mink. We aim to carry out mink control across 500km of the Dove watercourse by providing landowners with training and equipment such as floating mink rafts. 

The evidence is stark and clear, without urgent action, the future for water voles in our county is bleak and we risk losing this much-loved species forever from Derbyshire. The urgency of the situation is highlighted by the water vole's inclusion as a priority species in the UK Biodiversity Action Plan.

The River Dove catchment has been chosen for our water vole recovery programme, which aims to save our humble water vole from extinction.

The future of the county’s water vole population is so perilous that in addition to creating new habitat and improving existing wetland habitat it is essential that we prevent further loss of water voles due to mink predation. Mink were introduced or escaped into our landscape in the 1950s and 1960s. Water vole numbers have been devastated by mink which are voracious predators which will kill a wide range of native creatures. Efforts to reduce mink numbers are vital to save water voles from extinction and will also benefit a range of other species. Without directly reducing mink numbers efforts to improve or create suitable habitat would be futile.

Derbyshire Wildlife Trust believe that culling should always be seen as a last resort and be underpinned by science. Nobody goes into nature conservation to kill things, but we sometimes need to be willing to make difficult decisions to protect threatened species.  Water voles are our most threatened native mammal, on the verge of extinction here in Derbyshire and across much of the UK. As the local Wildlife Trust we have a duty to act to protect and restore native species. We are working to promote a wide abundance of wildlife and if one species becomes overly dominant then we are not achieving that. Sadly, non-native mink have no effective natural predators and have been decimating populations of a number of species for many years, especially water voles, and we are committed to bringing water voles back from the brink. We will be following best practice and evidence from a range of successful projects.

As well as halting the decline of water voles, this project will benefit other threatened species including bittern, sedge warbler, harvest mouse, otter, nathusius pipistrelle and common tern.