Grantee: Heart of Argyll Wildlife Organisation

Duration: June 2021 – July 2025

 

Background

Apart from their obvious role in the food chain for many other animals, water voles are also important eco-engineers, helping to regenerate riparian habitats.  Their burrows help to dry out key areas, enhancing nutrients, increasing microbial activity and nitrate availability which in turn increases plant species and biodiversity.

Water voles have sadly become locally extinct in many areas, with numbers falling by 90% since 1950. The primary reason for this rapid decline is predation by American mink – an invasive species that has become widespread throughout the UK.

The Project

The Heart of Argyll Wildlife Organisation (HAWO) is based at the Argyll Beaver Centre, in Knapdale, Argyll. The surrounding temperate rainforest, lochs, and wetlands were the site of the UK’s first trial beaver reintroduction which had positive environmental, economic, and social impacts (more here).

The positive beaver reintroduction created complex and messy wetlands – the ideal habitat for water voles. This HIEF grant, awarded in May 2021, aimed to kickstart a multi-year project aiming to restore water vole populations.

The project shifted focus early on, as it became clear that eradication of American mink was a crucial prerequisite for restoring water voles.

 

 

Images, courtesy of HAWO, show water vole conservation in action.

Initially, HAWO undertook a comprehensive ecological survey in Knapdale, which identified large swathes of suitable water vole habitat. The focus was then to formulate a mink eradication plan through consultation and partnership with key experts from Forestry and Land Scotland, NatureScot, and the Waterlife Recovery Trust.

Challenges with obtaining appropriate licences delayed the project. However, a strategic breakthrough took place in 2023, when HAWO successfully purchased the Beaver Centre and surrounding land through the Scottish Land Fund. This allowed humane dispatch of mink to occur on HAWO owned land.

A coordinated, landscape-wide approach is now taking place involving private and public landowners throughout Knapdale. Through collaboration with the Waterlife Recovery Trust, genetic analysis is taking place to establish the age, distribution, relationships and dispersal distances of the mink population. As mink numbers collapse habitats become viable for water vole reintroduction. It is anticipated that the trapping and monitoring will continue throughout 2025-26, with further funding required to facilitate the reintroductions.