Getting Ratty in the Trossachs
by - 13:41 on 26 May 2009
More Scottish stuff on scotlandinaweek blog page by Gilbert Summers
I’ve just read that 600 water voles have been released into the Trossachs 25 years after they died out there. Katy Freeman, of the Forestry Commission, said: “It is great for biodiversity and the water voles will be a great draw for visitors to the area.”
I love that aspiration. And I like to imagine this focus group somewhere – oh, probably in the south of England where some appropriate market-sector for Scottish tourism growth has been identified. These people, the marketing experts say, have a propensity to visit Scotland. They are independent and like little adventures. And there is an earnest young market researcher, complete with clip-board, asking relevant questions, such as what would clinch it for them, what would make them commit to visiting Scotland.
I can imagine the answers: cheap flights, better weather, a guarantee of top quality cuisine and so on. Then someone pipes up with the suggestion ‘water voles’. The rest of the group hesitate for a moment then nod in agreement. It would almost be as good as a dual carriageway all the way up the A9 and much cheaper.
And, yes, I agree. It’s always been one of the first things I’ve checked out when looking at potential destinations. The local water vole population. It can make or break a holiday.
Actually, no. It’s kinda sweet that the Forestry Commission thinks that the presence of voles will act as a magnet or great draw. And biodiversity is a good thing, unless it includes grey squirrels and, possibly, wallabies. But water voles as a magnet attraction is up there with my other favourite line to seduce visitors. This was ‘See oatcakes baked at the Horseman’s House’ which (formerly?) appeared in publicity material for Aden Country Park in Aberdeenshire and was exquisitely irresistible, I always found.
So let’s get this into perspective. Introducing 600 wolves to the Trossachs would be a great draw but letting loose the same number of small brown very shy furry things the size of hamsters may make less of an impact. Especially in view of their tendency to swim around watercourses with only their heads showing and to disappear as soon as anyone comes near them.
I say this confidently because I bet I am one of the few people in tourism today who can actually claim to have seen water voles frequently. OK, so I was about twelve and riding around the countryside on my wee pushbike but I could then have taken you to a certain bridge parapet from where you were almost certain of seeing that ‘vee’ shape of a water vole wake as you looked along the length of the river. Now, of course, some decades later, there’s nothing there. It might be mink predation, or what is euphemistically termed ‘riparian mis-management’ – I think this means the local farmer has had fun with his JCB. I couldn’t say – except Scottish Natural Heritage describes the water vole as ‘Britain’s most rapidly declining animal'. In short, Ratty, as in ‘The Wind in the Willows’, has mostly up stakes and left.
Should you find yourself in the Trossachs from now on, then follow SNH’s advice if you want to check out if there are voles in vicinity. But beware, because it says that “often, even in the summer, the signs are not immediately obvious and it becomes necessary to part the bankside vegetation and have a very close look in order to spot concealed droppings or other evidence of the voles’ presence”. (As in ‘daddy, what are you doing?’) Oh, and before you investigate the water's edge, make sure you get your midge repellent (Mozzy-Off) here.
Alternatively, just buy the kids an ice-cream in Callander and leave the poor wee voles in peace.
Fascinating vole facts for Trossachs visitors
1) Scottish voles are genetically different from English voles, following re-colonisation after the last Ice Age. In addition, many Scottish voles have black rather than brown fur. (The demarcation, oddly enough, follows the Border very closely. However, because of the scarcity of the vole in the first place, this is not recommended as a reliable way of telling which side of the Border you’re on.)
2) The water vole is not entirely suited to its aquatic life as its fur gets waterlogged after only a few minutes in the water. And it doesn’t even have webbed feet. (That’s really a bummer. Hardly surprising it’s in decline then.)
3) The average reader loses interest after two water vole facts..
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(Kenneth Grahame was a Scot, wasn't he?)