Subscribe to trusted local news
If you are accessing this story via Facebook but you are a subscriber then you will be unable to access the story. Facebook wants you to stay and read in the app and your login details are not shared with Facebook. If you experience problems with accessing the news but have subscribed, please contact subscriptions@thestrayferret.co.uk. In a time of both misinformation and too much information, quality journalism is more crucial than ever. By subscribing, you can help us get the story right.
- Subscription costs less than £1 a week with an annual plan.
Already a subscriber? Log in here.
20
May 2022
Water voles thriving in new Nidderdale home
Two hundred water voles released in Nidderdale are thriving in their new habitat, surveys have discovered.
Yorkshire Water released two groups of the endangered animals in 2020 and 2021 at Timble Ings Wood in the Washburn Valley.
Recent surveys suggest they are settling in well to the Area of Outstanding Natural Beauty, with signs of the animals up to 1km away from the original release site.
Surveys of the area have found burrows, droppings, and signs of feeding, such as piles of nibbled grass. There have also been regular checks for the water vole’s main predator, the American mink, which has not been spotted.
Philip Tennyson, recreation coordinator at Yorkshire Water said:
Read More:
- 100 water voles released in Washburn Valley this week
- Nidderdale group offers dog leads to protect nesting birds
Water voles are classed as an endangered species, and have been identified as one of Britain’s fastest declining mammals.
They have been named as a priority species for protection in the UK Biodiversity Action Plan, and conservation efforts like the one in Nidderdale are crucial in preventing their extinction.
The project is part of Yorkshire Water’s Water Works for Wildlife initiative, which aims to enhance biodiversity in 15 local wildlife sites.
0