Water Vole Surveys

Water vole populations have undergone a very steep decline in recent years, and as a result they now receive full protection under Schedule 5 of the Wildlife and Countryside Act. The presence of water voles must be taken into account in any planning applications, bank protection works, flood defence or other projects involving watercourses used by the species.

Water voles are usually found along slow-flowing watercourses including rivers, streams, ditches and occasionally ponds and marshes. They are quite frequently found along urban watercourses. Surveys are carried out by searching for evidence of water vole activity including burrows, latrines, feeding remains and runs in vegetation.

Jan Wilkinson is very experienced in carrying out water vole surveys and mitigation schemes, having worked with the species for many years and carried out a number of large and complex projects on sites ranging from grazing marshes in the Thames Estuary to quarry lagoon and ditch systems.

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