The Water Vole and Mink Survey of Britain 1996-1998 with a History of the Long-Term Changes in the Status of Both Species and their Causes

This report is devoted largely to an analysis of the results of the second survey of the status of the water vole and its main predator, the feral American mink, in Britain. The fieldwork for the survey was completed over 1996-1998 and was carried out to the same design and at the same sites as that of the first survey in 1989-1990, so is directly comparable. The results show clearly that there has been a large decline in water vole numbers in only 7 years. They also show that there has been a decline in the mink population over most of Britain due to interaction with the recovering otter population.