Funding boost to help restore water vole population

A wildlife charity hopes funding of £760,000 will help the water vole population in Nottinghamshire to "thrive again".

Nottinghamshire Wildlife Trust said it had secured government funding for its initiatives to bring back water voles and prepare for the return of beavers to the county.

Part of the funding will be used to "eradicate" non-native mink in Nottinghamshire, which the charity said threatened vole populations.

A spokesperson for the trust said recovering voles and wild beavers will benefit other plants and animals in the county that depend on healthy wetlands and river systems.

According to the wildlife charity, water vole populations in the county have decreased by about 90% in the past 15 years due to a rise in non-native mink species.

Janice Bradley, director of recovery at the trust, said it had received more than £600,000 for a project to prepare for the return of beavers in the county.

There are currently no wild beavers in the county, only enclosed beaver populations, Bradley said.

In addition, £160,000 has been awarded for a water vole recovery project from Natural England's Species Recovery Programme.

Bradley said most of the funding for the recovery of water voles would go towards the charity's goal of eradicating mink by March 2029.

She added the work involved deploying traps on rafts which float along the waterways and killing the mink "humanely, following the highest level of animal welfare standards".

Discussing mink, Bradley said: "They're a non-native species. It's a shame, they're a lovely animal, but they're not supposed to be here.

"They've reduced water voles to the brink of extinction across the country.

"In Nottinghamshire, we've literally gone down to a handful of tiny little relic populations of water voles.

"I thought the battle against mink was lost...but this funding has given us hope that the water vole population can thrive again."

The funding has come from the government's Wild Again: Restoring England's Wildlife initiative, which aims to support actions for the country's threatened plants and animals.

Nottinghamshire Wildlife Trust said it secured support for three projects it was involved with.

The trust aims to complete its mink eradication work by March 2029.

The new support for the project is expected to help bring wild beavers back to Nottinghamshire within the next 18 months, the trust added.

The trust said it would also be a partner in a Natural England-led research project, assessing the genetic structure of reintroduced water vole populations.

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