| History of the Water Vole Project | |||||
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The Project is grateful for the interest and cooperation of landowners, who are being contacted individually prior to survey work.
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Thursday 13th September 2007
Four volunteers met at Brown Moss with Sian Edwards of the Shropshire County Council Countryside and Ranger Service. They showed her where evidence of water voles has been found and discussed ways in which management work at Brown Moss could benefit water voles alongside other species.
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| Jan - Mar 2007 |
Habitat work – improvements to areas already occupied by water voles or creation of new habitat near to existing populations. (Click
HERE
to view photographs)
Brick Kiln Farm - Fencing of marshy area
Greenfields Nature Reserve - Creation of new pond near to Staggs Brook |
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| 16th Nov 2006 |
Representatives of planning departments from all around Shropshire, Natural England and Whitchurch Town Council joined members of the Project team on Thursday 16 th November for a seminar at The Archibald Worthington Club. Rob Strachan from The Environment Agency and one of Britain’s leading water vole experts, gave a fascinating talk about water voles including their ecology and behaviour. He also explained to the audience what appears to be one of the reasons why the Whitchurch area continues to support a thriving population of the animal. Water voles are in fact extremely mobile, spreading out to new sites both after weaning and after winter. The average distance travelled is 1.5 kilometres (1mile) and can be more. For a population to survive in the long term there needs to be a two-way exchange of animals (and therefore genes) between at least 8 or 9 separate colonies. This point was picked up by Malcolm Monie of the Whitchurch Community Water Vole Project when he discussed the results of this summer’s survey work. Whitchurch is criss-crossed by brooks, ditches, marshy hollows, pools, ponds and also the canal. Together these form a network of water vole corridors through which the animals can travel. The planners and councillors at the seminar informed that all these wet areas are potential water vole habitat and need to be kept in order to maintain the population in the long term. It was also noted that water vole surveys should be carried out during the summer when the numbers are highest and there are most water voles signs to be seen. After lunch the party made a visit to Whitwater Fishery off Liverpool Road to see water vole signs. The day finished with Rob and Malcolm being interviewed by Viv Geen of Shropshire Wildlife Trust for a podcast on water voles.
Photographs taken during the seminar can be viewed by clicking
HERE
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| 21st Aug 2006 |
Tracking raft set up at Whitwater Fishery. It proved very popular with the water voles who not only left lots of prints but decided it was a good site for a latrine! (See photo) After these initial trials the raft will be moved to other sites to check for the presence of mink in connection with habitat improvement work.
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| 15th Aug 2006 |
The stream flowing through Church Meadow southwards towards town was surveyed, together with a ditch joining it. Plenty of evidence of water voles was seen, and a photo taken. Small prize for the best caption!
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| 11th Aug 2006 |
The small brook flowing into Whitwater Fishery from the bypass was surveyed. Water vole activity was found in
the middle section. |
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| 4th Aug 2006 |
Seven volunteers surveyed in the Grindley Brook area and discovered a vigorous previously unknown colony in the stream not far from the locks. However, nearby stretches of water that were heavily shaded or overgrown showed no signs of water voles.Some of the upstream sections were completely dry.
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| 25th July 2006 | Whitchurch Community Water Vole Project meeting to discuss progress and plan the next phase | ||||
| 23rd July 2006 | A small group completed the survey of the brook running from Broughall to Blakemere. Signs of water vole activity were recorded. | ||||
| 17th July 2006 | Evening survey ay Hickory Hollow (Whitwater Fishery). More evidence of water vole activity! The two photographs below, one showing a pool bank with a mixture of reinforced (unsuitable) and natural (suitable) banks, and the other showing typical grazed vegetation with the diagonal cuts of water vole feeding. | ||||
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| 16th July 2006 | Survey day at Dansons Farm in the morning and between Broughall and Blakemere in the afternoon. Both sites yielded evidence of water voles, adding to the number of places in and around Whitchurch with positive information. | ||||
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| 2nd July 2006 | Survey and training day. In the morning we went up Mile Bank and surveyed the stream and several ditches, seeing plenty of water vole activity. In the afternoon, we surveyed ditches south of the old Cambrian Railway line (now Cycle Track). | ||||
| 17th June 2006 |
Survey and training day along two sections of Staggs Brook: near Edward German Drive and further downstream west of the canal. One new volunteer was trained. |
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| 16th June 2006 |
Launch of the Whitchurch Community Water Vole Project Website |
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| 15th June 2006 | BBC Birmingham filmed water voles in Whitchurch | ||||
| 8th June 2006 | A team from BBC Shropshire interviewed Albert and Carol Griffiths of the Water Vole Project about their extensive video footage of water voles in the Whitchurch area - to be broadcast by wildlife programmes. A radio interview will be broadcast soon (date to be confirmed) | ||||
| 6th June 2006 | Whitchurch Community Water Vole Project meeting to discuss results from the survey so far and further plans | ||||
| 4th June 2006 | Survey and training day in Whitchurch along Staggs Brook upstream of the station to Blakemere with 15 volunteers | ||||
| 25th May onwards | Publicity material and posters put up in Whitchurch and surrounding places | ||||
| 23rd April 2006 | *Survey and training day in Whitchurch along Staggs Brook from Smallbrook Road to the Canal, involving volunteers from Whitchurch, Prees Green, Ellesmere, Shrewsbury, Telford and Cressage | ||||
| 2nd April 2006 | Training Day for 13 volunteers : morning at Tilstock Bowling Club : led by Viv Geen (Shropshire Wildlife Trust) and Clive Dean (Shropshire County Council Northern Countryside Service) and afternoon at Prees Branch Canal: training in field signs. | ||||
| Autumn 2005 | Initial planning in discussion with Shropshire Wildlife Trust and Shropshire County Council Conservation and Ranger Team | ||||
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*Project volunteers are carrying out smaller surveys of watercourses and pools
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