Water vole numbers have plummeted nationally by a shocking 95% since the 1980s. The main causes of this decline are predation by mink and loss and degradation of habitat. As a result, the water vole is a priority species in the UK’s Biodiversity Action Plan (BAP) as well as Bristol City’s and South Gloucestershire’s BAPs.

However, one of the most significant populations of water voles in the West of England makes its home in our project area around Avonmouth and Lawrence Weston. We are looking for volunteers to help monitor these fascinating, elusive animals. Your work will support our efforts to restore habitat and improve connectivity of the rhine system. By monitoring a stretch of ditch or rhine once a month, the records you collect will create a body of evidence that, as well as informing future management plans, will be invaluable in informing future planning decisions and habitat mitigation.

For a full role description, click here.

For a volunteer application form, click here.

For more about volunteering with A Forgotten Landscape, click here.

For more about our work for water voles, click here.