Water Vole Biodiversity Action Plan

2021 - 2030

Water voles are the fastest declining mammal in England and despite efforts to stop this freefall in their numbers with localised projects to strengthen their populations, conserve their habitat and reintroduce them, nationally they are still disappearing.

The Manhood Peninsula has been a stronghold for water voles since 2000, when a WildCRU and FWAG project centred on Pagham Harbour Local Nature Reserve and the Bremere Rife, bolstered the native population of water voles.

This nationally recognised initiative is still seen as the successful template for future water vole projects and inspired MWHG's first Water Vole Biodiversity Action Plan for the Manhood Peninsula, originally published in 2011 to cover the period until 2020.

However, ten years on from the publication of the first action plan, ensuring that the momentum is kept up on water vole conservation is the real challenge. It’s up to us to care for this special place with its wetland species and water voles. This is what our new Water Vole Biodiversity Action Plan is about.

Water Volve Biodiversity Action Plan 2021-2030

Biodiversity Action Plan 2021 - 2030 for Water Voles on the Manhood Peninsula

Read the Biodiversity Action Plan

Appendix I

Included in the action plan is a large appendix on the creation, recovery, and management of water vole habitat that can be used as a standalone document by land-owners and managers.

Read Appendix I

Water Vole Habitat Management Fact Sheet

Water Vole Ecology
Fact Sheet