Giving Water Voles a Helping Hand
Carmarthenshire volunteers have also been lending a hand to clear up a critical site for Water Voles in the county- Morfa Berwick, near Llanelli. The Trust is part of the Llanelli Water Vole Action Group (LWVAG), which looks after the management of this county council-owned site just outside the town. Other members of the group include Carmarthenshire County Council, Environment Agency Wales, Swansea University, Llanelli Naturalists and the Countryside Council for Wales.
The Morfa Berwick site has good public access, improved by past work of the LWVAG, and is well used by local dog-walkers and residents, while the ditches and water courses provide a refuge in one of Carmarthenshire’s last key areas for this threatened species.
Water Voles were once much more widespread in the county but are now highly localised, with two main populations remaining- one in the Llanelli area, and one around Laugharne/Pendine. The Llanelli population is important enough to be designated one of seventeen national ‘key sites’ for Water Vole in the UK and one of four in Wales.
Wildlife Trust volunteers joined others from Keep Wales Tidy and further partner organisations to keep the public access at Morfa Berwick open, and clear litter from the site, which inevitably builds up from the nearby bypass and the high levels of public use. A good day was had by all, and the site was left looking clean and tidy and more water-vole friendly!
Water vole surveys at WTSWW reserves
Water voles (Arvicola terrestris) are Britain’s fastest declining mammal species, it is therefore important to monitor known populations and attempt to locate as many new colonies as possible. To that end, 5 of the Trust’s reserves have been surveyed for signs of water vole activity; Cors Ian (SN673695), Rhos Fullbrook (SN668628) and Llyn Eiddwen (SN607674) in Ceredigion and Ffrwd Farm Mire (SN420026) and Cors Goch (SN326185) in Carmarthenshire.
Despite suitable habitat being present at both Carmarthenshire reserves, no evidence of water voles was found at either. This may have been due to predation by American mink (Mustela vison) or historic drainage of the sites making them previously unsuitable.
On a positive note, all three of the Ceredigion reserves showed evidence of use by water voles. Rhos Fullbrook has perhaps the least suitable habitat; consisting of a rather rocky, shallow stream, and consequently had the least signs of activity. Only one latrine, one dropping and one pile of feeding remains were seen, along with approximately a dozen burrow entrances. It is a good sign if they are using suboptimal habitat however, as it could signify strong populations in adjacent land. Some water vole signs were also seen in private land downstream of the reserve.
Both Cors Ian and Llyn Eiddwen appear to have healthy populations of the species, with 30 latrines found at the latter site, concentrated in the ditch running from the southern edge of the lake. At Cors Ian, the pond created in February 2006 by the Environment Agency appears to have been very successful; burrows and latrines around the margins providing positive evidence of colonisation by water voles. The stream running through the reserve also shows signs of water vole activity along its entire length. Other WTSWW reserves with suitable habitat may also be surveyed in the near future.