Water Vole Training Day for Volunteers

At the end of 2023, The Wildlife Trust of South & West Wales (WTSWW) and other partners of the Restore the Thaw Project ran a water vole survey training day at Cadoxton Ponds. The purpose being to train up volunteers to help with the monitoring of water vole following reintroductions planned for 2024. This will contribute toward tracking the success of the reintroductions and the movements of individuals as they radiate out from the release sites.

The day began with a presentation outlining the justification for the reintroductions, outlining water vole ecology and then we delved into survey techniques and how to identify field signs, such as burrows, latrines and feeding signs.

After this, a practical element was carried out around Cadoxton, where water vole are a common site. They kindly obliged by leaving us plenty of field signs for our volunteers to discover and practice their identification skills, with the support and guidance of staff.

This training and our dedicated volunteers will be essential for the success of long term monitoring for this exciting project. As well as this, mink monitoring continues to ensure the long term success of the reintroduction programme.

Mink Workshop

Another integral part of this project is the control of the invasive predator, the American mink. It’s an unfortunate part of the process, but water vole reintroductions cannot take place without effective mink control. These incredible mustelids are ferocious predators, which have decimated water vole populations UK wide, and also pose threats to many other species, particularly ground nesting birds. In fact they will prey on just about anything they can catch, including animals up to three times their size.

In November WTSWW staff attended a Wales wide Mink Control Workshop, organised by Envirobotics Ltd, who earlier on in the year undertook a feasibility study investigating “‘Where are the mink in Wales?”, on behalf of the Wales Resilient Ecological Network. Various stakeholders attended, including North Wales and Gwent Wildlife Trusts.

We heard about and discussed technological advances and applications in ecology which could contribute to more effective invasive species control. The overarching theme however illustrated the need for collaboration between government bodies, organisations, across counties and countries. After all, mink don’t adhere to our borders. We also saw that despite invasive species control often seeming like a losing battle, huge strides can be made if just one individual has enough motivation to make it happen.

In particular we heard from Tony Martin of the Waterlife Recovery Trust, who was able to inspire attendees with how effective his mink control in East Anglia has been. He is confident that with more effective strategies, mink could be eradicated from Britain in the near future and has the evidence and methodologies to back this.

Following the workshop, we are hoping more collaborative work can be undertaken to improve invasive species control in Wales.

Red Squirrel Monitoring 

Over the past year red squirrel conservation work has continued in the Mid Wales Red Squirrel Focal Site. Long term monitoring by staff and volunteers at four sites has provided good evidence of continued red squirrel presence across the western side of the focal site as well as in the east, with consistent appearances of red squirrels on our trail cameras in all of these sites. Although population numbers in the majority of the monitored sites are low, evidence suggests the red squirrels are breeding in most of these areas.

We also have evidence suggesting red squirrel presence in additional sites throughout the centre of the focal area, and will shortly be undertaking further survey work to guide the deployment of trail cameras so as to establish further areas of monitoring.

We are working closely with forest managers across the focal site to encourage and support them in following forestry practices that will maintain and safeguard the red squirrel populations. Data from our long term monitoring provides up to date information on where red squirrels are present, and is of great help in our work with foresters. Where we are able to prove red squirrel presence in a forest, we can ensure the retention of habitat throughout any planned forestry operations. By working with foresters we are building relationships with the people directly responsible for making decisions that can have massive effects on red squirrel populations. Through this, we can advise on decision making at the planning stage, and work towards improving red squirrel habitat and connectivity.