Walked through the local mini nature reserve for the first time today and saw a water vole.
cute animals, even some people that have an innate dislike of rodents can tolerate a water vole
they were so common when i was a kid and dont know why their decline has been so steep, i know the boffins say habitat loss, escape of mink into our waters and weather change are at fault
meh, i dare say they could all be contributing factors but even taken as a whole doesn't seem to explain it. Habitat loss is a given, they wont be there if the fucking habitat isn't but i'm not convinced about the ongoing problem of mink cos from an anecdotal perspective i rarely see mink (neither do my birding mates, and there's a lot of them) where once i saw them regularly enough. I know they're established in the country and i dont imagine they can now be irradicated totally but im sure their numbers have tailed off.
I'm not convinced about the weather angle cos rivers seem to be getting a thumbs up environmentally during their decline, in that otters have made a comeback and continue to thrive and it would seem odd that weather changes that contribute to water vole decreases would also not impinge on otter increases.
So i look at it and they're not occuring where you'd expect (so suitable habitat is not being used), i think mink numbers probably aren't impactful enough and i dont buy the weather angle at all (on a very local basis maybe, not country wide). And what is true of most rodents is true of water voles, in that they breed so prolifically that recovery from population dips isn't usually a problem - in ideal habitat the birth rate is high and females will give birth to 5 litters a year with 5-8 young each time.
Therefore whatever causes were responsible for the original massive decline are either still present or at the least something is still impactful enough to continually keep their numbers down.
I'm convinced we're missing something.