Water voles are one of Britain’s fastest declining mammals – 7.3 million water voles once lived alongside streams and waterways across the country, but predation by invasive American mink and loss of habitat have led to an estimated 93% decline in numbers since 1990.

Water vole populations in Greater London have followed this worrying national trend – and a ZSL-led team of conservationists are calling on London residents to help them combat the rapid declines of this iconic mammal.

The team are asking the public to help them protect and restore water vole populations by reporting any sightings and signs of water voles, to see if these endangered mammals are present in their local areas at Water Vole Recovery Project – Recording Form.

Sam Facey, ZSL’s Estuaries and Wetland’s project officer explains: “London’s residents can help us gain vital information to understand where water voles might still be present in the city. We know there are some populations still present within London, but we still don’t have a clear picture across most of the city. We need the help of the public to look for water voles and provide the essential data that will allow us to pinpoint where we need to place our conservation efforts to help restore their populations.”

Water voles are ecosystem engineers – meaning that they play vital roles in shaping their river homes through promoting the growth of a diverse range of plants which supports more wildlife – so restoring water vole populations allows conservationists to protect many of our other native species.

The London Water Vole Recovery project is run by ZSL in partnership with Greenspace Information for Greater London CIC and People’s Trust for Endangered Species and is one of 22 rewilding projects funded by round two of the Mayor of London’s Rewild London Fund. The fund, which is delivered by the Mayor of London in partnership with London Wildlife Trust, opened for applications in October 2022 and made available £850,000; £250,000 from the GLA and £600,000 from Amazon’s $100 million Right Now Climate Fund.

This initial phase is part of the long-term plan to develop a network of partners to support the long-term recovery of once abundant water vole populations in London and is linked to other ground-breaking re-wilding initiatives to introduce water vole back to rivers in London.

The team will be holding an online project launch event on 17th April 6-7pm, where they will be sharing their expert advice on how to identify water voles and signs of activity and how to upload data. More information on the event can be found at: https://LondonWaterVoleRecovery.eventbrite.co.uk.