Island Life Magazine Ltd August/September 2008 | Page 73

COUNTRYSIDE, WILDLIFE & FARMING
a range of measures including surveys
of riversides and streams; carrying
out riverside improvement work; trial
reintroduction projects and giving advice
to landowners whose land includes
riverbanks and streamsides.
The appeal has already got off to a good
start with a donation of £5,000 towards
the costs of the appeal from Hampshire
Natural Mineral Water supplier Hildon
Ltd. Hildon Ltd have also generously
offered to donate 5p to the water vole
appeal for every bottle of Hildon Water
sold through their home delivery service
between 1st July and 30th September.
Phone [phone] or go to
www.hildon.com for further information,
quoting code HDWV.
Please help us meet our target. Making a
donation is easy. You can donate by post
to Water Vole Appeal, Beechcroft House,
Vicarage Lane, Curdridge, Hampshire
SO32 2DP, by telephone on 01489 774414
or online at www.hwt.org.uk

Water Vole
Habitat

Your local
Wildlife Trust

The Hampshire and Isle of Wight
Wildlife Trust works to create a better
future for wildlife and wild places
in Hampshire and the Island. As the
leading local wildlife conservation
charity, it looks after 57 wildlife
reserves, has 27,000 members and 1,000
volunteers. The Trust manages its own
land and advises other landowners how
to manage their land with wildlife in
mind. Staff and volunteers also carry
out surveys and gather data to monitor
how our local wildlife is doing. Find
out more at www.hwt.org.uk.
linearly along the water course. An
average territory for a male water vole
being around 180 metres and for a female
about half of this.
Many watercourses have been dredged and
modified over the years but particularly
more intensively in the past 50 years.
Where this work has been carried out

Water Vole habitat by Graham Roberts

Water voles live in a range of wetland
habitats. Their densities are very much
influenced by distinct habitat preferences
as well as overall population density
and season. Water voles thrive on well
vegetated, gently flowing or static water
bodies. On rivers, their territories extend

life

over large areas this can have a great
impact on water vole recovery in the area.
However completely leaving watercourses
unmanaged can be just as detrimental,
leading to over-shading and the eventual
loss of soft vegetation.

All about
Water Voles
With their characteristic round
body, blunt muzzle, short round
and almost hidden ears water
voles are our largest native vole.
Their fur is normally a reddish
brown although black pelage is
observed in some parts of the
country. They also have thin hair
on their tail.
Males have a body weight up
to 380grams and females up to
300grams. Average length of an
adult water vole is 360mm with
the tail accounting for just over a
third of the total length.
Water voles favour a range of
freshwater wetland habitats being
found on rivers, ponds, lakes,
canals and ditches. They can
also be found in brackish coastal
marshes.
Water voles are not long lived
as wit