The admin side of voling

Last year the Whitchurch Water Vole Group organized a seminar for council pest controllers, planning officers and some local landowners to keep them informed about where the water vole colonies were sited and how best to preserve them. It was a really successful day, and we made several great contacts.
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This kind of networking and awareness-raising isn't as exciting as field work, but I can't overestimate its importance. No matter how passionate a particular wildlife group may be, they might find their efforts undone overnight if certain important parties aren't kept in the loop.
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Today, for instance, I spent several hours emailing and phoning round to ask about some strimming which had been done on one of the banks while I was away last week. Early last year, if you remember, both banks were scarrified all the way along just as the voles were coming out to breed, and almost all their cover and food was removed: the problem was made worse because I couldn't find out which body had done the work and so I wasn't able to prevent a second swathe being stripped. Therefore, when I saw the small patch of strimmed nettles last night I thought I'd better check there was no more drastic work to come.
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NSDC had already told me this patch wasn't theirs, so I emailed Whitchurch Town Council yesterday evening and I'm delighted to say Peter Martin answered by 9.30 this morning, saying it wasn't their land either. Next I called the Environment Agency, and they checked with their maintenance department and got back to me saying that although the Staggs Brook is deemed a "critical water course" and so falls under their care, they didn't touch the bank vegetation any more (unless there was a flooding issue) specifically because of protecting the voles.
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So I called Shropshire County Council, and they were also extremely helpful, eventually putting me through to Ron Dryden of Property Maintenance. He got in touch straight away with his contractors, and he's since spoken to them about the presence of water voles, the need to avoid disturbing burrows or spraying chemicals near the banks.
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It can be hard work tracking down who's responsible for a particular water course (and in our case, Welsh Water also have an interest), but it's worth persisting. The more organizations who know about the voles, the better chance we have of maintaining those fragile colonies.
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So a big thank you to all the people I pestered this morning. Result!