{"id":159375,"date":"2025-09-21T14:10:09","date_gmt":"2025-09-21T14:10:09","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/ca\/159375\/"},"modified":"2025-09-21T14:10:09","modified_gmt":"2025-09-21T14:10:09","slug":"water-voles-reintroduced-to-river-lea-after-20-years","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/ca\/159375\/","title":{"rendered":"Water voles reintroduced to River Lea after 20 years"},"content":{"rendered":"<p><img decoding=\"async\" src=\"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/ca\/wp-content\/uploads\/2025\/09\/1758346448_435_grey-placeholder.png\" class=\"sc-86c96223-0 iMuqLZ hide-when-no-script\" aria-label=\"image unavailable\"\/><img decoding=\"async\"   src=\"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/ca\/wp-content\/uploads\/2025\/09\/da4c3340-93c6-11f0-98dc-53d10dedbfc6.jpg.webp.webp\" loading=\"eager\" alt=\"Paul Thrush A brown water vole, looking at the camera, by a riverbank, with vegetation in the image. \" class=\"sc-86c96223-0 fHZDyi\"\/>Paul Thrush<\/p>\n<p>Herts and Middlesex Wildlife Trust has been committed to water vole conservation for 23 years<\/p>\n<p class=\"sc-9a00e533-0 bJoRPJ\">Conservationists have reintroduced water voles into a river for the first time in more than 20 years. <\/p>\n<p class=\"sc-9a00e533-0 bJoRPJ\">Herts and Middlesex Wildlife Trust said they had returned 100 water voles to a stretch of the Upper River Lea, on the Ayot Estate, near Wheathampstead, Hertfordshire. <\/p>\n<p class=\"sc-9a00e533-0 bJoRPJ\">The project, also supported by volunteers, the estate, and Verulam Angling Club, aims to reverse a dramatic decline in the mammal. <\/p>\n<p class=\"sc-9a00e533-0 bJoRPJ\">Josh Kalms, water vole conservation officer at the trust, said: &#8220;These animals are vital to healthy wetlands &#8211; their burrowing and grazing helps maintain riverbanks and improve biodiversity.&#8221;<\/p>\n<p><img decoding=\"async\" src=\"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/ca\/wp-content\/uploads\/2025\/09\/1758346448_435_grey-placeholder.png\" class=\"sc-86c96223-0 iMuqLZ hide-when-no-script\" aria-label=\"image unavailable\"\/><img decoding=\"async\"   src=\"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/ca\/wp-content\/uploads\/2025\/09\/0d519230-93c7-11f0-98dc-53d10dedbfc6.jpg.webp.webp\" loading=\"lazy\" alt=\"Debbie Bigg Two people, in a field, walking a water vole box, with a water vole in it, to a riverbank. There are trees and foliage around them. One is wearing shorts and a cap and the other man, at the front, has on a top and blue trousers. \" class=\"sc-86c96223-0 fHZDyi\"\/>Debbie Bigg<\/p>\n<p>Volunteers carried the water voles to a bankside location <\/p>\n<p class=\"sc-9a00e533-0 bJoRPJ\">The water vole is one of the  UK&#8217;s fastest-declining mammals. <\/p>\n<p class=\"sc-9a00e533-0 bJoRPJ\">Nationally, since the 1960s, its population has fallen by 90% due to habitat loss and predation by invasive American mink, the trust added. <\/p>\n<p class=\"sc-9a00e533-0 bJoRPJ\">The Ayot Estate and the angling club worked with the trust to prepare the site, and created a &#8220;welcoming environment for this important native species&#8221;, it added.<\/p>\n<p class=\"sc-9a00e533-0 bJoRPJ\">Mr Kalms said: &#8220;Water voles eat a huge range of plants species and in doing so, they move seeds around, helping to maintain varied plant cover and creating lush and wild bankside vegetation. <\/p>\n<p class=\"sc-9a00e533-0 bJoRPJ\">&#8220;They are also a key food source for native species like stoats, predatory fish, herons and birds of prey.&#8221;<\/p>\n<p class=\"sc-9a00e533-0 bJoRPJ\">The water voles, bred by the Derek Gow Consultancy in Devon, were released into temporary riverside pens to acclimatise before establishing their own burrows.<\/p>\n<p><img decoding=\"async\" src=\"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/ca\/wp-content\/uploads\/2025\/09\/1758346448_435_grey-placeholder.png\" class=\"sc-86c96223-0 iMuqLZ hide-when-no-script\" aria-label=\"image unavailable\"\/><img decoding=\"async\"   src=\"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/ca\/wp-content\/uploads\/2025\/09\/3af49d90-93c7-11f0-98dc-53d10dedbfc6.jpg.webp.webp\" loading=\"lazy\" alt=\"Michael Barrett A water vole poking out of a wooden pen, with just its face seen, by vegetation. There is a grill to the right. \" class=\"sc-86c96223-0 fHZDyi\"\/>Michael Barrett<\/p>\n<p>A water vole as it ventured out of its pen <\/p>\n<p class=\"sc-9a00e533-0 bJoRPJ\">Tom McLaughlin, from land agents Strutt and Parker on behalf of the landowners, said: &#8220;This project is about more than one species, it&#8217;s about bringing vitality back to the whole ecosystem.&#8221;<\/p>\n<p class=\"sc-9a00e533-0 bJoRPJ\">Barry Killinger, fisheries manager for the angling club, said: &#8220;Angling and nature conservation are closely linked &#8211; our members recognise how important it is to protect the aquatic environment and its inhabitants. <\/p>\n<p class=\"sc-9a00e533-0 bJoRPJ\">&#8220;Going forward we are happy to engage in any monitoring programme of the voles and also look forward to further introductions on stretches further upstream.&#8221;<\/p>\n<p class=\"sc-9a00e533-0 bJoRPJ\">The scheme has been funded as part of the Projects for Nature Platform.<\/p>\n<p><img decoding=\"async\" src=\"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/ca\/wp-content\/uploads\/2025\/09\/1758346448_435_grey-placeholder.png\" class=\"sc-86c96223-0 iMuqLZ hide-when-no-script\" aria-label=\"image unavailable\"\/><img decoding=\"async\"   src=\"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/ca\/wp-content\/uploads\/2025\/09\/8d8bcdd0-93c7-11f0-98dc-53d10dedbfc6.jpg.webp.webp\" loading=\"lazy\" alt=\"Michael Barrett Four people, standing outside, on grass, by vegetation, all smiling and looking at the camera. There are three men and one woman. \" class=\"sc-86c96223-0 fHZDyi\"\/>Michael Barrett<\/p>\n<p>Herts and Middlesex Wildlife Trust worked with volunteers on the scheme <\/p>\n<p>You might also be interested in<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"Paul Thrush Herts and Middlesex Wildlife Trust has been committed to water vole conservation for 23 years Conservationists&hellip;\n","protected":false},"author":2,"featured_media":159376,"comment_status":"","ping_status":"","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[26],"tags":[49,48,66,323],"class_list":{"0":"post-159375","1":"post","2":"type-post","3":"status-publish","4":"format-standard","5":"has-post-thumbnail","7":"category-wildlife","8":"tag-ca","9":"tag-canada","10":"tag-science","11":"tag-wildlife"},"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/ca\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/159375","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/ca\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/ca\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/ca\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/2"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/ca\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=159375"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/ca\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/159375\/revisions"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/ca\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media\/159376"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/ca\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=159375"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/ca\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=159375"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/ca\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=159375"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}