Water vole on riverbank - Credit Tom Marshall
Yorkshire Wildlife Trust is teaming up with The Co-operative Farms in Goole to aid survival of one of our most charismatic British mammals - the water vole. With cameras now installed on site at Pasture Farm, we're looking forward to revealing a whole lot more about the lives of these special creatures.
Yorkshire Wildlife Trust is delighted to be working with The Co-operative Farms to deliver their ‘Habitat Heroes’ project on Pasture Farm in Goole. The farm is one of 6 Co-operative owned farms across the UK that will benefit from the Habitat Heroes project.
Across the 6 farms, Habitat Heroes will support endangered and protected species with the aim of preserving some of the UK’s most iconic species and helping to safeguard them for the future. Environmental works and improvements to land management will be identified through the individual projects that will improve and sustain the habitats of species indigenous to Co-operative Farms sites: this complements The Wildlife Trusts’ visionary ‘Living Landscapes’ campaign.
What are we doing?
Continuing the survey work conducted .jpg)
in 2010, between June and September 2011 Yorkshire Wildlife Trust is conducting a detailed water vole survey of the drainage ditch networks on the Pasture Farm holding assisted by a dedicated team of volunteers, who will be provided with training covering survey techniques and methods of data recording. From the survey results we will be able to determine the distribution of water voles across the farm. This information will be used to provide tailored land management advice to help support the local water vole population by improving and extending their habitat.
Regular monitoring of the water vole population is vital, and this partnership between Yorkshire Wildlife Trust and The Co-operative Farms will hopefully be extended to enable us to return next year to conduct another survey on the farm. This will help us to see if there have been any changes in population size and distribution so that we can provide on-going, informed advice on managing the farm’s water vole habitat.
We will also be leading three events over the summer to enable members of Yorkshire Wildlife Trust, The Co-operative Farms and anyone else interested to come and take a closer look at what we are doing and to learn more about these secretive and charismatic mammals whilst also gaining an understanding of water vole ecology and habitat management.
What’s new?
Yorkshire Wildlife Trust has purchased several new motion sensing cameras that will be positioned in various strategic locations on the farm. We hope to capture some exciting footage of the wildlife that uses the drains, as well as, of course, the elusive water voles themselves! This will give us a rare insight into the behaviour of the water vole in their natural habitat.
For the latest project updates take a look here.
Contact
Please email Assistant Project Officer Harriet Linfoot on harriet.linfoot@ywt.org.uk for more information.
Further information is also available at the following webpages:
The Co-operative Farms Habitat Heroes project
Yorkshire Wildlife Trust’s Living Landscapes campaign
Yorkshire Wildlife Trust’s Events page
