Water voles’ comeback in England

This video from England says about itself:

Frustrated Northern Water Vole (Arvicola amphibius) trying to reach some succulent Willow leaves…always just out of reach!

Filmed at Slimbridge WWT.

From daily The Morning Star in Britain:

Water voles returned to Yorkshire Dales tarn

Saturday 20th August 2016

WATER voles are being returned to a lake in the Yorkshire Dales in what is thought to be the highest reintroduction project for the endangered mammal in Britain.

About 100 of the loveable rodents are being returned to Malham Tarn by the National Trust, which says it will be the first time the mammals have been seen since the 1960s when they are believed to have been wiped out by escaped [American] mink from nearby fur farms.

The water vole — inspiration for the character Ratty in Kenneth Grahame’s Wind In The Willows — is Britain’s fastest declining wild mammal.

The trust is releasing the animals, which have been bred in captivity, as part of a major new vision for land management in the Dales, with another 100 to be released next June.

National Trust Malham Tarn ranger Roisin Black said water voles had thrived in the area before.

“By reintroducing water voles to the tarn, we hope to give these rare animals the chance to recolonise the streams in the high Yorkshire Dales.”