Ratty returns to riverbank after absence of a decade

A much loved animal which has become extinct in a huge tract of the South West is being reintroduced – Martin Hesp went to Bude Marsh to find out more.

When most readers viewing this article were young, water voles were common in the Westcountry – now they are rare. So rare, that they've been extinct in Cornwall for over a decade.

But a pioneering project developed by a new nature conservation charity – Westland Countryside Stewards – is now on course to return one of Britain's best loved mammals to the riverine landscapes west of the Tamar.

In early 2013, more than 300 captive-bred water voles were released at a number of locations on the River Strat above the Bude Marshes.

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