A gentle rustling, a mysterious 'plop' and perhaps a glimpse of a rather pitiful sausage-shaped furry animal hurriedly paddling through the water is all many of us ever get to see of the humble water vole. Here in Hillingdon there are few places known as home to these aquatic little voles, but one such hotspot has recently been expanding, redeveloping and creating lavish new accommodation for the up and coming London water vole.
A stone's throw away from the rumble of the A40 and a short hop across the Grand Union Canal from Denham Country Park, Frays Farm Meadows Nature Reserve has been managed by London Wildlife Trust since 1999. With a long partnership between Hillingdon Natural History Society and Natural England, the site was declared a Site of Special Scientific Interest in 1981 for its multitude of rare grasses, sedges and 'unimproved' grassland status. This means that there has been no recorded use of pesticides, herbicides or treatment with fertiliser - a rare status in the modern world of intensive agriculture!
But it is for the water voles (Arvicola amphibius) that inhabit the multitude of ditches that criss-cross the site the Trust has taken a particular interest in. Water voles, Britain's largest vole, have declined rapidly throughout the 20th century and losses accelerated throughout the 1990's. Rapid urbanisation, intensive farming practices and introduced species like American mink (Neovison vison) have caused widespread local extinctions and the loss of the species from many places they were once a common sight. Water voles essentially need lush, thick reedy vegetation for cover, steep banks for burrowing and open water to swim through in order to escape their predators (jumping in with a characteristic "plop!"). Frays Farm Meadows supplies all of these features but unfortunately suffered a period of minimal management, allowing dense scrub and woody vegetation to take over the meadow boundaries, shading out the ditches and in some cases silting them up with leaf litter so much it was possible to walk across some without even getting your feet wet!
Since 2010 London Wildlife Trust has been running a project here funded through SITA Trust's Enriching Nature programme. Dedicated to restoring wildlife habitat and declining biodiversity, the project quickly focused on nationally rare water voles and their disappearing habitat. By cutting back the rapid encroachment of woody scrub like hawthorn and blackthorn and re-digging silted up ditches, the Trust and its dedicated teams of volunteers have successfully restored the channels into lush, vibrant micro-ecosystems. These reedy and sedge filled ditches, flushed with flag iris, purple loosestrife and willowherbs in the warmer times of the year, have attracted more than just water voles into the neighbourhood. Commonly spotted here king fishers, herons, cormorants, a variety of wild waterfowl, dragon flies, grass snakes, foxes, badgers and even weasels. At night you cannot miss the darting and fluttering bats that come here to dine on the insects the open water attracts.
Sam McCabe, London Wildlife Trust Conservation Assistant says "The transformation from bare, freshly exposed ditch to green and thriving habitat has been incredibly fast. Our hard work here was beautifully rewarded only the other week when a water vole was spotted here swimming home to a newly dug burrow in a newly cleared channel."
But the future of the vulnerable water vole is far from secure. While protecting and enhancing London's prime water vole real estate is extremely important, it is only through connecting up these populations, improving natural water ways and removing artificial obstructions the future of the species can really be assured.
GET INVOLVED! London Wildlife Trust and the Hillingdon Natural History Society are always looking for new volunteers to come and help out and improve the nature's lot for good in the capital. Projects are running across London and across the country and if you would like to get involved you can contact the Trust and our Local Groups by email at volunteering@wildlondon.org.uk or visit the Trusts website at www.wildlondon.org.uk/.