Water voles make comeback as ‘Ratty’ given helping hand

The Forestry Commission has joined forces with the North York Moors National Park Authority and National Trust to carry out the work, funded by £24,000 from an Environment Agency scheme to improve water quality.

The project in Langdale Forest, near Pickering, will dam woodland watercourses and remove conifers from the streamside haunts of the water voles. The work will improve water quality by reducing sediment and creating the kind of clean pools which water voles love. The scheme will also help improve the environment for other wildlife, including fish.

Forestry Commission wildlife officer, Brian Walker, said: “It’s a very important colony and over the years we have been tweaking the environment to its advantage.”

Water voles – which won the hearts of literature fans as Ratty in Wind in the Willows – were once commonplace, but the escape of predatory mink into the British countryside and fewer suitable habitats saw their numbers decline. Langdale Forest and the eastern moors is thought to be the only haven of water voles in the North York Moors National Park.