Back in Spring we awarded INCC £125,052.31 for a 3 year water vole conservation and research project working with communities in fund area.
Since then the funding has created 2 part time jobs for local people as well as supporting a role within INCC.
- The new Conservation Officers have been busy undertaking water vole studies (as they are most active in spring and summer months) as well as working with landowners and Cardiff University.
- The Officers have already identified several Water Vole colonies in the upland habitats, and they have been successful in deploying camera traps to record some of their behaviour.
- As well as Water Vole, the cameras have also picked up Field Vole, Common Lizard, Pygmy Shrew, Common Shrew and Weasel.
- They have started running training days and volunteer surveys
- They are working with Cwmparc and Treorchy primary schools in the project area on how they can celebrate the Water Vole in the landscape. This work will continue with the hope of school talks and eventually site visits.
“The project is going very well, and we have been surprised and excited by the amount of Water Vole colonies found so far in the upland habitats. Some suitable habitat however remains unoccupied, and we are yet uncertain of why this might be. Further surveys and exploration in the area will hopefully provide us with more insights and answers. Over the Autumn and Winter we will continue surveys and are working with Cardiff University to establish a methodology for extracting DNA samples from Water Voles, most likely from hair follicles.