Water Voles Return to East Devons River Tale
RATTY'S BACK
Water Voles Return to East Devon's River Tale
Just a hundred years after Wind in The Willows, water voles are sadly extinct in most of Devon and Cornwall. However, thanks to the efforts of local environmental charity the Tale Valley Trust, ‘Ratty' is now well and truly back in East Devon's River Tale.
After ten years of river restoration and bank side habitat enhancement, and with the cooperation and enthusiasm of the farmers and the local community, the eight mile river corridor is once more a haven for native wildlife.
The results have been extraordinary. According to Environment Agency surveys, fish-life has increased ten fold since 1999, and in recognition of this success in 2005 the Tale Valley Trust won the national Brown Trout Conservation Award. By fencing cattle away from the river other than at designated crossing and drinking points, banks are no longer eroded, river weed and spawning beds are not trampled and nesting tunnels and burrows are not crushed.
As a result, insect life has increased, allowing fish, birds and mammals to thrive. Dippers and kingfishers are nesting, otters have repopulated the entire valley, and reptiles and bats are benefiting too.
However, there is still one villain in the plot. The Tale Valley Trust is striving to keep out Himalayan balsam. This is a tall, decorative bank side annual plant with pretty pink flowers and explosive seed heads.
But it is non-indigenous and, most importantly, highly invasive. So each year in July, Trust volunteers journey the length of the river removing by hand every balsam plant they see.
And so it was that during this year's balsam days a really exciting discovery was made: the presence of water voles along almost the entire river corridor. Burrows, runs, feeding stations and latrines were abundant, most of the clay pad monitoring rafts showed signs of voles, and there was no trace of their enemy number one - the mink.
There was evidence too of otters along the entire stretch - slides, claw marks in the clay banks, pad marks in the soft mud verges, and spraints or territory markers at regular intervals.
The Environment Agency's fisheries, recreation & biodiversity team leader in Devon, Emma-Rose Herrera, said: "We're delighted that water voles are thriving on this stretch of the river and that conservation action on the ground is helping to create the habitat they need. They are still one of our most threatened mammals and we need landowners and organisations like the Tale Valley Trust to help us ensure their future survival".
For more information please contact John-Michael Kennaway on
01404 822188 or visit http://www.talevalley.com
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- Excellent, fun packed day! The Play Barn is certainly a great addition!
Jane from Exmouth