Page 15 - Wildlife News August 2019
P. 15
National treasure ‘Ratty’
needs urgent help, such as
sensitive management of
river banks, to survive.
Space for water voles Water vole: Terry Whittaker/2020VISION
Ratty in The Wind in the Willows is not our connection with wildlife and making We have relegated wildlife to the
a rat but a water vole. He’s also a poet, it harder for wild animals to make a living.
a dreamer and a waterman. Here he is Those cows staring at an idyllic riverside backwater of life, and it should be
talking about the river: “It’s my world, and landscape while dreamily chewing the
I don’t want any other. What it hasn’t got cud are making life hell for poor Ratty. mainstream.
is not worth having, and what it doesn’t
know is not worth knowing. Lord! The Sometimes the solution requires We have made wildlife a luxury item,
times we’ve had together…” little more than common sense and
goodwill. In several areas, Essex Wildlife the first thing we lose when we chase
You can interpret this as Ratty’s plea Trust has worked with local landowners
for connectivity: for not breaking up the to erect fences that protect stretches of that will-o’-the-wisp we call progress. But
system of waterways on which water voles river bank from cows, and create the
depend. But we’ve dredged them and as we start to live with notions of
concreted them and polluted them and Together, we can work
generally bullied them, until it’s a wonder towards a kinder and connectivity, we can work towards a
they’re able to support any life at all. richer countryside
kinder and richer landscape, a better
Now we’re beginning to re-think, and to perfect habitat for water voles – and the
adjust the way we live to make for better voles have returned, all along the bank. countryside and a better country.
connectivity – with greater consideration of
what wildlife needs to survive. Lock gates on rivers and canals are It often starts with small individual
also problematic for water voles. But
You might expect that, in rural with ‘soft engineering’ solutions to the decisions – not using pesticides in your
stretches of river at least, water voles problems they create, including coir
would have it their own way. But that’s matting instead of concrete and the own garden, accepting that a tidy
not the case. Riverside meadow is planting of willows, they can become
traditionally good grazing for cows, and water-vole friendly once again – and the landscape is a dead landscape and letting
as they crowd onto the bank to drink or to connecting nature of the river can be
browse the riverside vegetation, they restored. a patch of your lawn grow wild,
munch away on water vole food. Worse,
they trample the banks and make it This is not, as you will no doubt have supporting conservation organisations
impossible for voles to make the tunnels observed, rocket science. It requires only
they live in. a subtle shift in the minds of humans. such as your local
Wherever we look, even in the heart of Wildlife Trust, and
the countryside, it seems that we’re losing
speaking up for
wildlife whenever
you get the chance,
over cups of coffee
and pints of beer.
It’s also about
our connections Simon Barnes
with wildlife and our is an author with
connections with a passion for
other people. We wildlife. He was
can do it. Only awarded the
connect. Let’s Wildlife Trusts’
resolve to live no Rothschild medal
longer in fragments. in 2014.
Wildlife news / August 2019 15
