As the UK’s fastest declining mammal, water voles are on the brink of extinction. Their demise is largely attributed to predation by invasive American mink, against which they have evolved very little defence.

Our community-led Get InVOLEd project focuses the Hogmsill, a chalk stream in southwest London, where they went locally extinct in 2017. Local residents speak of a time only 30 years ago when these furry critters were teaming in the river. In fact, the famous Millais painting, ‘Ophelia’, featuring the Hogsmill river was originally set to include a water vole until his contemporaries in the Pre-Raphaelite Brotherhood thought it would be mistaken for a rat!

After a three-year effort, with the support of over 350 volunteers, we released over 100 water voles back onto the river!

Now that we have successfully achieved our goal of reintroducing water voles back onto the river, we have a range of activities that Naming A Water Vole could support.

For the past few years we have been monitoring the river for invasive American mink, the main drivers of water vole declines across the country. Your support could help us continue monitoring the river for these animals to ensure the population has the best possible chance of surviving.

Additionally, Naming a Water Vole could help us to monitor the newly released population itself through camera trap imaging and state of the art bioacoustic sensor devices. This is an essential part of the project, as it will inform how the population is faring and future management decisions. This includes specific restoration activities, which could be supported through Naming a Water Vole. Finally, your support could help us to identify future reintroduction sites across London and help the species fight back from the brink of extinction.