Water Vole Legal Protection Uk

Licenses are issued to allow actions that would otherwise be illegal. They must be issued for the purpose for which the proposed activity is carried out. There are only a limited number of purposes for which licences can be issued in the UK. In Wales, these licences are issued by Natural Resources Wales. Anyone can participate in our national vole monitoring program. More details can be found here. In some cases, such as when a new habitat takes time to establish before it is ready to receive vole release, or when it is captured at a time of year unsuitable for their release, it may be necessary to take water mice into captivity. Since voles are short-lived animals, it is usually the offspring of captured animals that are released when the new habitat is ready. It also means that more animals can be released than animals captured, which could improve the chances of voles establishing themselves in the new location. If more important habitats are affected or voles do not move after vegetation is removed, it may be necessary to use a system of fencing and traps to remove voles from the development area. If this approach is adopted, it is necessary to agree both on the catch concept and on the receiving site used under licence by the licensing authority. In England and Wales, damage control should aim not only to minimise the risk of crime during development, but also to promote the long-term conservation of voles.

To achieve these two objectives, it is necessary to carefully plan the movement of voles and to select receptor habitats protected from degradation and free of mink for the foreseeable future. There is no permit to permit damage or disturbance to vole habitat for development purposes, but there is a legal defence where relevance must be demonstrated, i.e. If it can be shown that an act that would otherwise have constituted a criminal offence was the accidental result of an otherwise lawful transaction and could not reasonably have been avoided, This is a defence to a conviction, but it would be up to the courts to decide what is appropriate. Although there is no development permit per se, it is possible to obtain Natural England permits for conservation purposes, and if vole habitat is likely to be destroyed and relocation is the only option, this type of permit may be relevant. Greenwillows Associates employees have many years of experience investigating vole signs, presence and absence, and post-authorized translocation programs. In many waters, a study on board a vessel is the only feasible method. Greenwillows Associates owns a shallow barge with an outboard motor capable of navigating most waterways and has often been used successfully in vole surveying. Our checklist of services that meet national best practice standards includes: In accordance with section 16(3) of the Wildlife and Land Act 1981 (as amended), Natural Resources Wales may issue licences for water mice for the following purposes: The vole (Arvicola terrestris) is the largest vole species in Britain and inhabits canals.

Rivers, streams, ditches and other wetlands. They form caves in the banks and feed mainly on reeds, rushes, sedges and other aquatic plants. Voles swim, dive and climb well and can be found in a fairly high density in good habitat. However, they are declining in Britain mainly due to predation by American mink (Mustela vison) and a general deterioration in habitat quality. Voles do not hibernate, but spend much of the winter underground. Find out where you can see voles, Britain`s largest vole species and the inspiration behind The Wind in the Willows` Ratty. Urbanization of floodplains and general increases in development have resulted in direct loss of riparian habitat and vegetation. Intensive grazing by livestock causes not only the loss of riparian vegetation, but also poaching and trampling of banks, making them unsuitable for voles. Poor management of riparian vegetation and the canal itself can also result in the loss of waterway voles. Both floods and droughts cause population declines, with drought being the most serious threat as it makes them highly vulnerable to predators. Benevolent management of the waterway and its shoreline can improve habitat suitability for voles. Voles were used in the 20th century.

In the nineteenth century, one of the most severe declines of all wild mammals in Britain. Agricultural intensification in the 1940s and 1950s caused habitat loss and deterioration, but the most rapid period of decline was in the 1980s and 1990s, when American mink spread. Between 1989 and 1998, the population fell by almost 90%! If voles are present on a development site, this could be grounds for refusing a building permit, unless the applicant can clearly demonstrate that they will be protected during the development process and that disruption will be minimized. In some cases, this can be extended to post-development management measures to prevent negative impacts during the operational phase of a development. Sometimes it may be necessary to work in the inhabited habitat of voles, or it may be necessary to destroy their burrows to allow development. For this to be done legally, it would be necessary to remove voles before development begins, usually either by forced displacement or by capture and relocation. In England and Wales, there is no specific permit system allowing such mitigation work solely for development purposes. Instead, this mitigation work should be carried out under a conservation permit issued by the relevant legal authority.

These authorisations are granted for fishing and translocation purposes with the aim of achieving conservation gains. In Scotland, however, there are special licences for the development of voles. Little is known about the effect that large amounts of pollutants such as pesticides, agricultural wastes and chemicals that have entered rivers and streams in the past have had on voles, although they may have led to a direct decline in numbers. In recent years, stricter laws and better pollution guidelines have improved water quality in the UK. This led to the return of otters to all counties, in direct competition with introduced American mink and often removing them. Water mice do not live in Ireland and are absent from most offshore islands, with the exception of Anglesey, the Isle of Wight and the Jura Strait. Vole exclusion and capture should only be carried out in March and April, and in September and October, when voles are active and less likely to have dependent young in their burrows. If females are captured with dependent young, they should be released into the development zone at a later date to catch them. Vole releases are best done in the spring and summer, and releases are likely to be less successful in late fall. Voles are the largest species of voles in the UK and are sometimes mistaken for brown rats found in similar habitat.

They are also sometimes known as water rats or water dogs. Voles are active during the day. They do not hibernate during the winter, but spend more time in their burrows, often living with members of the same colony, and therefore less visible above ground. The proponent may need to apply for a wildlife licence to operate. The proposal must include evidence that the work would be beneficial for the protection of the vole. You may also have added mitigation or compensation strategies as a condition of the building permit. Starts in March and lasts until October. Females produce between two and five litters of two to eight young per year. The young leave their mothers after 28 days and those born in July can breed this fall, although most reach sexual maturity after their first winter.

Young voles must weigh at least 170 g to survive the winter. Voles are generally confined to ditches, streams and other wetlands and in close proximity to land. These features can often be retained in the development site. In this case, to protect voles, only a protective fence would be built around the vole habitat and would ensure that construction activities and material storage do not take place in this area. If relatively small habitats that do not support vole cavities are affected by development and there are a small number of voles in the area, it may be possible to move water voles to nearby areas without using traps. This is achieved by gradually removing vegetation both on the banks and in the channel, and gradually making the habitat unsuitable for voles, so that voles remove themselves. For work involving less than 50 m of shoreline, the proponent could hire a registered ecologist to use the CL31 class permit to move water voles for development. Reeds, grasses, rushes, sedges, aquatic and wetland plants in spring and summer and roots, rhizomes, bulbs and bark in fall and winter.