Why Water Voles?


 I am being asked this a lot recently, since I've started devoting a lot of time and enthusiasm into water vole conservation in my local river community.  Last weekend I spent Saturday, under a punishing sun, in fishing waders and moving through a local ditch performing a survey.  I cannot begin to describe the excitement at finding compelling evidence of good old Ratty.

I guess that's a good reason to start?  Wind in the Willows, which was devised and based on my patch of the world, has been an important book in my family since as long as I can remember.  I can still remember prodding my Dad to wake him up as he snored into the pages whist my sister and I waited for the next chapter.  My own children, especially my son, are also avid fans - long may this tradition continue.

But for more "why" I have to go into the specifics of what they bring to the ecosystem.   There's plenty of chat about what we screwed up with waterways and flood management when we killed all the beavers and various admirable campaigns to reintroduce them.  Well, the water vole is a smaller scale habitat engineer - but an engineer nonetheless.  Maybe the benefit isn't as obvious as stopping our homes from flooding - but does it have to be all about us???  As prolific burrowers, they create complex and extensive burrow systems into the river banks that are enjoyed by frogs, insects and whatnot - as well as spots for sand martins and my beloved kingfishers to nest in.  They also help spread the seeds of the riverside vegetation they consume.  Where they are, you would consider to be a healthy and functioning ecosystem - and those are precious these days!

Additional personal why comes from this bringing me closer to the river and also stopping me from over-leaning into work obsession.  A serious lull in career fulfilment saw me looking elsewhere to get the feeling I was making a difference.  And... I think maybe I am?

Comments

Post a Comment

Popular posts from this blog

Paddleboard Racing

Initial caveat: I have to remind that I think there is a line when considering amateur, pseudo-competitive sport.  It's not unlike the line between being environmentally conscious and going full-Guardian.  Essentially context needs to be maintained at all times.  You are not a professional athlete because you participate in a race on a weekend.  It's a bit of exercise.   A bit of fun.  There is a line at which you may teeter, especially at that midlife crisis sort of age, where you throw money and obsession at the thing in the hope that it somehow redefines you into something more than you are (when you are in fact already fine).  If you manage to win a race, you were the fastest person who chose to turn up on that day.  That might be smashing, but it's ultimately of little consequence. No one can contest that being in the atmosphere of an event spurs you on, but the danger of superciliousness exposure is very, very real.  I was reminded of t...
Read more

Race 2

Image
Another AquaPaddle event.  Initially I had no intention of attending this one.  I had friends over for a barbecue and successfully executed said barbecue in spite of atrocious weather and without causing any form of food poisoning (that I am aware of).   This did also feature ~5 cans of ale, and I'm not used to that sort of drinking at all anymore.  Sunday morning came and the sun was shining.  Who in the name of greek buggery expected that?!  So I pulled myself together, took some paracetamol, downed a couple of pints of water,  packed the car and headed off. An equally well attended event.  The sun was out and spirits were high, though I needed to wee-wee on arrival and there was nowhere to sneak off to.  You may remember from the previous post  that I was half mocked for my average fin and also shown in my first race how much top end kit can make a difference.  Having done some research, I had chosen to buy myself two Black Pr...
Read more