Water voles return to Surrey after decades of loss
Summary and headline written by AI from the source article. How we work
Surrey Wildlife Trust released 30 endangered water voles onto a nature reserve near Elstead, England, as part of a larger effort to restore the species to the River Wey.
The trust followed a previous successful release on the upper part of the river by introducing the voles to ten sites spanning from Frensham to Elstead.
Water voles disappeared from Surrey, a county in southeast England, in the early 2000s, but groups working on nature restoration are now trying to help the animals thrive again. The wildlife trust expects the rodents to settle on the 16-hectare Thundry Meadows reserve and spread throughout the upper Wey catchment over the next few months.
James Herd, director of reserves management at Surrey Wildlife Trust, expressed hope that this release would be the first of many reintroductions of native species across the county. David Elliott, lead ranger for the South Downs West at the National Trust, noted the voles had been locally extinct for decades, and their return would complete an important part of the area’s ecosystem.
The National Trust, River Wey Trust, and South East Rivers Trust are collaborating on the reintroduction program, anticipating benefits for other wetland species like herons and birds of prey.
