A PROJECT to reintroduce water voles at a North-East reservoir and surrounding forest has been hailed a success following the release of 160 more of the animals.

They were let free in streams flowing into the north shore of Kielder Water as part of the Restoring Ratty project.

Since June 2017, 730 water voles have been released into the Kielder area. The released voles have been bred in captivity from individuals captured in the Pennines and North Yorkshire in 2017 and over the border in Scotland in 2016.

All signs indicate that water voles released in June and August 2017 are thriving well with many of them travelling several miles from their release sites.

A further 260 voles are set to be released this August.

Restoring Ratty, at the Kielder Water and Forest Park area, is a five-year partnership project between Northumberland Wildlife Trust, Forestry Commission England and Tyne Rivers Trust.

The water vole was once a common and familiar mammal along our ditches, rivers and streams. Unfortunately, habitat declines, pollution of waterways, industrialisation of agriculture, housing development and predation by American mink that escaped from fur farms, have all led to severe water vole declines since the 1960s.

Graham Holyoak, River Projects Manager at Tyne Rivers Trust, the organization that led the first phase of the project to create a safe environment ready for re-population, said: “This is our third release after two successful releases in 2017 taking numbers released up to 730. “Monitoring of the voles released in 2017 have shown they are doing well so this third release will help boost the breeding population in Kielder by allow individuals spreading out to find partners.”