Water voles threatened by spate of vandalism (From Wiltshire Times)

Water voles threatened by spate of vandalism

9:15am Sunday 17th August 2008 in News By Victoria Ashford

VANDALISM in a west Wiltshire conservation area is threatening the habitat of its resident water voles.

Police have stepped up patrols around Smallbrook Meadows in Warminster after a spate of anti-social incidents that threaten the future of the already rare water voles.

Vandals have been cutting down trees, hacking off bark, polluting the stream and lighting bonfires next to the stream, close to where water voles have made their homes.

The frequent destructive incidents have caused volunteers from Wiltshire Wildlife Trust to raise awareness of the problems in the hope that, with help from the police, it will discourage vandalism.

Volunteer warden Clive Thomas, of Copheap Rise said: "People are shifting huge timber that we have stacked and dumping them into the brook.

"Also, someone is going around with a machete or something similar and stripping bark off. It is disturbing the water voles."

According to a recent report published by the WWT the numbers of water voles, pictured, across the county have dropped by 30 per cent over the last decade.

Despite this, the population in the whole of the UK has declined by 94 per cent over the same period making it the fastest declining and rarest mammal in this country.

The two main causes have been put down to habitat loss, like that seen in Smallbrook Meadows, and predation by the American mink.

Police Sergeant Jim Stannard from Warminster said: "It is being led by the Neighbourhood Police Team who have put a target patrol strategy in to address the offending and hopefully resolve it with a number of prosecutions."

Smallbrook Meadows is a nature reserve on the outskirts of Warminster, consisting of a number of disused water meadows lying between the Rivers Were and Wylye.

John Rattray, the trust's head of land management, said: "It's always a great disappointment when mindless people destroy a wildlife haven, much used and loved by the local community.

"The only way we can resolve situations like this is if the community pull together and discourage these people by contacting the police and community wardens in order to bring the perpetrators to justice."