ONE of Britain’s best-loved – but fastest declining – creatures has been re-introduced in the Yorkshire Dales.

The water vole – immortalised as Ratty of the Wind in the Willows – is an endangered mammal in this country, its numbers dropping by 90 per cent in recent years.

But in an effort to boost the population 100 are being released in Malham Tarn this weekend, with a further 100 to follow in June next year.

The creature was once common at the site – England’s highest freshwater lake and owned by the National Trust – but they have long since disappeared, thought to have been wiped out in the 1960s by mink which escaped from fur farms nearby.

The Trust is reintroducing the water voles, which have been bred in captivity, as part of its major new vision for land management in the Dales

The conservation charity is taking a nature-first approach to managing the 8,000 hectares of moorland, farmland and woods that it cares for in the national park.

The water voles will play an important part in the ecosystem at Malham Tarn, grazing and burrowing into areas of the riverbank and providing the space for rare plants like scarce mosses and liverworts that need patches of open habitat to grow.

The water voles will also act as a food source for struggling predators like barn owls and otters.

National Trust ranger Roisin Black said: “In the rest of Europe, water voles are common. In Britain, the creatures are incredibly rare.

“We know water voles have thrived at Malham Tarn in the past and thanks to work by the National Trust, the habitat here is perfect for water voles again.

“By reintroducing water voles to the Tarn, we hope to give these rare animals the chance to re-colonise the streams in the high Yorkshire Dales.”

The release of the water voles has been staggered over five days with he animals spending the first two days in large cages, placed on the fringe of the lake.

On the third day the cage doors are opened add food placed on rafts in the water encourages the voles to leave the cages and build burrows. After the fifth day the cages are removed.

The National Trust’s ecologist Peter Welsh said: “Water voles once played an important part in the ecosystem at Malham Tarn.

“Reintroducing them to the Tarn is just one of the ways we are working alongside our farmers and other partners to restore wildlife and natural processes in the Yorkshire Dales landscapes we care for.”

Water voles are predominantly herbivores, eating grass and other waterside vegetation but they also have a sweet tooth – and during the release at Malham Tarn they will be fed accordingly. National trust rangers will specially prepare around 50 apples each day as treats for the creatures.