National Water Vole Database and Mapping
The National Water Vole Database and Mapping Project was established in 2008. The project is managed by The Wildlife Trusts and delivered by a Water Vole Information Officer based at the Hampshire and Isle of Wight Wildlife Trust. Funding for the work has been provided by the Environment Agency, People’s Trust for Endangered Species, Royal Society of Wildlife Trusts and Scottish Natural Heritage. The project aims to collate and map water vole and American mink data to assist with species monitoring and the development of conservation priorities.
Alert and key area maps have been produced to identify areas known to support water vole populations and to suggest where some of the more robust populations are to be found. This mapping work aims to complement the outputs of the National Key Sites Project, which developed from a study by Bright and Carter (2000).
The methodology for producing alert maps is based on work undertaken by the Berkshire Buckinghamshire and Oxfordshire Wildlife Trust, as summarised in the second edition of the Water Vole Conservation Handbook (Strachan, R. and Moorhouse, T., 2006). Mapping is produced by buffering water vole records to capture some of the potential surrounding habitat and areas within average water vole dispersal distance. A figure of 0.5m (measured from occupied watercourses) is used to capture some of the surrounding habitat and a figure of 2km, as measured from water vole records, is used to capture dispersal distance.
Local Key Areas are identified by selecting areas of 6 km2 and over from the alert maps. It is suggested that these areas are important for maintaining the sustainability of local water vole populations (Rob Strachan, pers.comm.) Regional Key Areas are identified by selecting areas of 35 km2 and over. Selection of areas of this size and over could help identify those places where water vole populations are more likely to survive the impacts of stochastic events and more likely to persist for more than 40 years.
The mapping produced to date is intended as a tool to assist water vole conservation in the future. Identification of local and regional key areas using the methodology described above does not confer any statutory or non-statutory designation and further work is now needed to refine methods and explore the potential for producing time series and coincidence mapping. There is also the potential for using the data to develop landscape scale working to benefit the species and to prioritise areas where investment in mink control is likely to be most cost effective.
To view sample maps, click on the list below.
UK - Water Vole presence - by 10km square
South east region - Water Vole - regional key areas
South east region - Water Vole - local key areas
South east region - Water Vole Alert map
Further information and a copy of the guide to the project outputs can be obtained from The Wildlife Trusts (enquiry@wildlifetrusts.org).
References
Bright, P.W & Carter, S.P (2000) Halting the decline: refuges and National Key Sites for Water Voles Report to PTES/EN.
Strachan, R. & Moorhouse, T. (2006). Water Vole Conservation Handbook. Second edition. Wildlife Conservation Research Unit, Oxford.
