Making Ponds for Cuddly Ratty!!
Epitomised as ‘Ratty’ in Wind in the Willows, one of a summer evening’s most evocative sounds is the soft ‘plop’ as a water vole dives into the water.
Sadly, although they were once common along the banks of rivers, streams, ditches, canals and ponds throughout Britain, Water Voles have suffered a catastrophic decline in Britain over the last few decades, and have disappeared from many places where they were once common. Changes in land use and management have resulted in the loss of whole colonies, the isolation of remaining populations and an increased vulnerability to predators, in particular feral American mink.
Your gift of £15.00 will help us to create special ponds for Water Voles to provide them with a safe and secure refuges in which to live bring up their young, and to protect them at times of river flooding. The ponds will ensure that each female has at least 50m of good-quality bank-side habitat, with wide shallow margins and lots of dense vegetation in which to forage and hide from predators. They will form part of larger wetlands complexes of at least 2km extent to ensure colonies can be sustained in the long term.
