Rafts Put Mink in the Clink to Save Our Loveable Ratty

The water vole or water rat – Ratty from Wind in the Willows – is in danger of becoming extinct. Here Richard Marks looks at how farmers, conservationists, and landowners are coming to its aid

A TINY wooden raft, tied to a river bank, drifts lazily in the current beneath the whispering boughs of an old willow tree. And in the dappled shade, a speckled trout snaps at a mayfly in the shallows. Along the riverbank, the rustling of furry animals can be heard deep in the meadowsweet. And a moorhen clucks noisily from her basket of eggs.

It sounds like an idyllic scene from Kenneth Grahame’s celebrated Wind in the Willows – a wonderful picnic spot, maybe, for Ratty and his good friends Badger, Mole and Toad.

But the illusion is quickly shattered on this particular waterway – the lovely River Thaw in the Vale of Glamorgan – where Ratty is in mortal danger.

Ratty, of course, is our inoffensive water vole (Arvicola terrestris) – the most endangered British mammal, which is on the brink of being wiped out by an American invader, the deadly wild mink.

But help is at hand from a small army of conservationists with an ingenious plan to kill the enemy with a fleet of floating rafts, fitted with steel traps along rivers where the American mink is taking a devastating toll on our wetland wildlife.

The plan works like this: a wooden raft, measuring 1.5m by 0.5m, is covered in soft clay and floated to a strategic position near the river bank.

A tunnel is built on the structure which appeals to the mink’s curious nature – and the animal signs its death warrant by leaving a trademark footprint in the mud.

The next stage of the operation is the installation of a trap fitted with a trip wire and spring-loaded door.

The mink returns to the raft and enters the trap. The animal is then humanely culled. And the rest of the mink tribe fall for the ruse and suffer the same fate.

The River Thaw – which flows through Cowbridge – is one of a number of Welsh waterways which has mink surveys and water vole protection schemes.

The project on this river is a partnership between the Vale of Glamorgan Council, the Environment Agency, The Vale Local Biodiversity Action Plan and the Wildlife Trust of South and West Wales. Rob Parry, the trust’s wetland and wildlife advisory officer who is co-ordinating the project, said, ‘Water vole conservation in Wales is closely linked with landowners and involves a number of suitable habitats such as wetlands, ponds, lakes and streams spread over a number of land holdings.

‘Thanks to first-rate co-operation, the scheme brings the conservation body and the farming community together for the benefit of this endearing riparian mammal which has suffered a catastrophic decline of 90% in Wales in recent years.

‘The severity of the loss has resulted in the future viability of the species facing the threat of extinction. It is essential to locate the remaining water vole populations and develop appropriate conservation methods to save the species,’ he said.

‘The raft method of trapping allows us to carefully monitor the presence of mink in a relatively ‘time-cost’ effective way. Once the mink’s footprints are discovered, the clay pad can be removed and a trap positioned in its place.

‘The River Thaw in the Vale of Glamorgan is an ideal location for the reintroduction of the water voles to help bolster the existing small population in the middle reaches.

The landowners’ response to mink control and habitat improvement projects to help protect the voles has been very encouraging. ‘Our work depends on the goodwill of landowners and their expert knowledge of their land so that practical conservation projects can be carried out throughout Wales in the future.’: American invaders cause havoc and destruction of our native wildlife:American mink were introduced into England from the United States in 1929 to be bred for fur. Some escaped and began to breed but the problem escalated seriously 30 years ago when animal rights activists started to ‘free’ the animals from mink farms. The last major release was of 7,000 mink from a farm in Hampshire in 2001.

Mink have a devastating effect on game birds, fish and poultry as well as other wild indigenous species.

They are able to swim well and raid islands set up as sanctuaries for wild birds. Unlike most wild animals, they will kill even when not hungry. Mink rafts, originally developed by The Game Conservancy Trust, are also being used on Anglesey. Workshops were held to encourage their use last month. Members of the British Association for Shooting and Conservation, angling clubs and fisheries were taught how to trap mink successfully by using the rafts. The Anglesey project is run by the BASC, Environment Agency Wales and Mentor Mon.

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