Water voles released into wild at nature reserve

The scheme will also lead to further habitat improvement works

More than 100 water voles bred in captivity have been released into the wild in Nottinghamshire.

The rodents - the fastest-declining mammal in England - were this week set free into their new home at Idle Valley Nature Reserve, near Retford, as part of the Nottinghamshire Water Vole Recovery Project.

Running until March 2025, the scheme is investing £491,740 in measures to restore and create wetland habitat to support the species and increase numbers.

Nottinghamshire Wildlife Trust said further habitat improvement works are in place at other sites across the county, as well as efforts to curb the mink population to help water voles repopulate.

'Long-held ambitions'

Water vole surveys carried out in Nottinghamshire last year "found them to be almost entirely absent from sites where they were recorded historically", the wildlife trust said.

The 58-hectare (143 acres) enclosure at Idle Valley was originally created to enable the re-introduction of beavers in 2021.

Janice Bradley, the trust's head of nature recovery (north), said funding from Natural England’s Species Recovery Capital Grant Scheme and Severn Trent "has finally given us the resources to match our long-held ambitions".

“The evidence is stark and clear, without urgent action, the future for water voles in our county is bleak and we risk losing this much-loved species forever from Nottinghamshire," she said.

"After months of hard work reducing mink numbers and improving habitat to support water voles and other wetland species, it is so exciting to be able to carry out the county’s first-ever mass release of water voles.”

Karen Shelley-Jones, species recovery programme manager for Natural England, said the Nottinghamshire scheme "is one of several projects we are supporting to tackle the impact of invasive non-native species on our native wildlife".

"Strategic joint working across organisations is so important to help us address the Environment Act target to reduce the risk of species’ extinction," she said.