LookWild: How water voles were brought back from the brink in the Broads

Despite being one of Britain’s most charming small mammals, water voles were almost driven to national extinction. Hannah Southon describes the dedicated efforts to revive their fortunes in the Broads National Park.

The water vole (Arvicola amphibius) is a small and charismatic mammal sometimes found along the rivers of the Broads National Park.

Shy and elusive, they can be difficult to spot and are often mistaken for rats – not helped by the fact that “Ratty” from The Wind in the Willows was actually a vole! These charming little mammals are more closely related to hamsters and are a beloved part of Britain’s natural heritage.

You can distinguish them by their round face, blunt nose, short ears, glossy brown fur, and endearing habit of munching on reeds while sitting upright.

Water voles live along the banks of slow-moving rivers, streams, and wetlands, where they dig burrows and feed on grasses and aquatic plants. Shy but industrious, they play a quiet yet vital role in keeping wetland habitats healthy and balanced.

The decline – and rebirth – of water voles in the Broads

Despite their resilience, water voles have faced many threats. Natural predators include herons, marsh harriers, and otters, but their most serious concern was the non-native American mink.

Introduced in the 1920s for fur farming, escaped mink thrived in wetland habitats such as the Broads, causing the national water vole population to fall by 90% and causing local extinctions.

In 2003, the Norfolk Mink Project – now Waterlife Recovery East – began tackling the issue in the Broads along with the Broads Authority, starting along the River Wensum and later expanding across Norfolk and Suffolk.

Today, about 340 ‘smart traps’ and floating rafts operate in Norfolk alone. These traps do not harm captured animals and send a text alert to a volunteer when triggered. Non-target species are released immediately, and many traps now include excluders to prevent voles and birds from entering. Captured mink are humanely dispatched by trained personnel.

The Waterlife Recovery Trust has since extended trapping from East Anglia to Lincolnshire and the River Thames, reducing the risk of mink moving back into cleared areas and expanding safe habitats for native wildlife.

Thanks to these efforts, vole numbers in the Broads are recovering, making their story one of our most notable conservation successes. In areas with suitable vegetation and habitat, signs of their presence are now common.

Water voles are usually active during daylight, which gives Broads Authority ecologists and volunteers a great chance to observe them. In summer, they can be seen feeding on riverside plants or swimming away when disturbed, often taking collected vegetation back to their burrows for winter storage.

How to spot a water vole

Finding signs of voles requires a trained eye.

Adults weigh around 100 to 380g – about as much as a can of soda – with brown fur and a paler underside, helping them blend into the surrounding reeds and grasses and making them hard to pick out. Often, you’re more likely to hear a sudden “plop” into the water than actually see one.

They leave piles of vegetation at a 45° angle – along with tic-tac-sized droppings whose colour depends on their diet. These droppings are odourless and dry to reveal digested plant matter. Pathways or “runs” through vegetation and burrow entrances along the water’s edge are also good clues. In certain conditions, such as low tide or summer dryness, paw prints may be clearly visible in exposed mud.

Their diet consists mainly of plants from watery habitats, including reeds, sedges, grasses, roots, bulbs, and occasionally fruits such as apples. They eat an impressive amount – around 80% of their body weight each day.

Voles typically live in burrows up to five metres deep in riverbanks, often with both an above-water entrance and an underwater exit for safety. Where banks are unsuitable, they can build large grass nests, about the size of a football, in reedbeds.

When work occurs in the Broads, surveys are carried out to minimise impact on wildlife. Volunteer surveyors help identify vole presence before and after works, using methods such as fingertip searches or floating rafts to detect activity. In some sites, years of monitoring have shown encouraging increases in summer sightings.

So on your next visit, keep a lookout for feeding remains, burrows, or perhaps that characteristic “plop” into the water – you might just have spotted one of the Broads’ most endearing residents.

Hannah Southon is an ecologist for the Broads Authority