Preserving Ratty’s uplands’ reserve.
Living Uplands has worked with Durham Wildlife Trust on the Naturally Native project which focused on one of the most iconic of British mammals, the Water Vole, more popularly known as 'Ratty'. The project addresing on one of the greatest challenges to water voles, the American Mink; the mink is an invasive species and a voracious predator.
The project reviewed habitat and worked hard to understand the management needed to protect our endangered native species, the water vole.
We first reported on the start of the project back in 2020. Now at the end of a more than three-year endeavour, we are able to share what has been learned to date:
The conclusions point to how, left unchecked, mink will force water vole out of a catchment system. Where water vole remain in large numbers is where the mink have failed to establish themselves. In the uplands, efforts undertaken to secure the protection of red and amber listed endangered ground nesting birds also enables the water vole to flourish largely without risk.
All of this is good news for the future of the water vole in the North-East. As a next step the healthy populations in the uplands will be reviewed. The strongest populations may be considered as offering the foundation of a re-population programme further down the catchments once mink is a far lesser threat.
There are still chapters to be written for the story of 'Ratty' in the North-East.