Water Voles

Water Vole

Most people will be familiar with ‘Ratty’ in Kenneth Grahame’s ‘Wind in the Willows’. Well, ‘Ratty’ wasn’t a rat, he was a water vole. Many people will also have memories of the halcyon days when water voles were common. Where I grew up in Warwickshire the River Blythe had a huge population as did the Grand Union canal. It was common to see the buoyant plump creature paddling vigorously across the calm waters. Those days are gone although they may return. They are gone because water voles have been all but wiped out by the introduced American Mink. The American Mink was brought to the UK for breeding in fur farms and since it is a sagacious creature it often escaped. The escapees numbers were swelled when animal rights activists released them in the belief that they were being kind. It was misguided although well intentioned because the American Mink is no mean predator and a great survivor. The water vole, which is a bumbling inoffensive creature, had no defence. Its slow paddling in calm waters could easily be interrupted by a fast moving mink with formidable jaws. The carnage occurred throughout Britain.

Surveys have been carried out by various bodies. Locally their distribution is summarised in Victor Clement’s publication - ‘The Tay Western Catchments Project’. It was discovered that water voles had survived better than expected in the higher reaches of burns. The Scottish Invasive Species project set about assessing the distribution of mink using specially designed rafts where they would leave their footprints. The ultimate aim was to trap and humanely kill the mink. A number of rafts were deployed in the Rannoch area and one at Dùn Coillich. The project had some success and the number of mink is undoubtedly reduced.

Liz Auty of the John Muir Trust discovered water voles at Dùn Coillich by finding their distinctively chewed grass stems, which have a 45 degree end to them and also finding their piles of cigar shaped droppings. Water voles have scent glands on their chests and rub their hind feet on these before stamping on their piles of droppings to provide them with a pleasing odour to mark their territories. This behaviour may seem eccentric at best, but it clearly works for water voles - don’t try it at home however. Their presence at Dùn Coillich was confirmed by joint deployment of camera traps by JMT and Highland Communities Land Trust who manage Dùn Coillich.

The Scottish water vole is, needless to say, a bit different from the English version. It tends to be darker and larger. Apparently the Scottish water vole originated in the Iberian peninsula whereas the English and Welsh water voles came from south east Europe. Decades ago I witnessed a heron catch and eat one at Dall. The unfortunate water vole was almost black and the heron downed it in one gulp.

In Europe there are populations that don’t live by water whilst almost all the UK ones do. It may come as no surprise that there is one exception in Glasgow, where a water vole population lives in a semi-industrial site which is not near water. When this happens the water voles live in burrows.

(26th December 2019)