Endangered water voles to be given new home

Hundreds of endangered water voles are to be re-homed after being rescued from a coastal site where the UK's new deep sea container port is being built, conservationists said yesterday.

Some 300 of the mammals, immortalised as Ratty in Wind In The Willows, from the site at Thurrock, Essex, will be moved 50 miles away to the River Colne, near Colchester, as part of a massive relocation project.

More than 50,000 animals, including rare species such as great crested newts, have been moved from the site, which includes an area where new wetland is being created to compensate for habitat being lost to the port's development.

The wetlands scheme by DP World, developer of the deep water £1.5 billion "London Gateway" port, will help it meet obligations under EU law to create habitat to compensate for land lost under the new site.

The company is spending £50 million on measures including the purchase of farmland which will be turned into new intertidal habitat for a hoped-for 7,000 birds when 300 metres of sea wall is breached later this year.

And water voles, grass snakes, adders and great crested newts have had to be moved to new habitat as part of the port development project.

Trapping water voles began in March under licence from the government's conservation agency Natural England, from where they were transported to temporary homes including Wildwood wildlife sanctuary in Kent.

The voles had to be trapped outside the main breeding season to avoid capturing females and leaving their young abandoned in nests.

The 300 water voles will be released at several sites, including Fordham Hall Estate, a 500-acre Woodland Trust woodland creation site on the River Colne.