🎧 Prefer to listen to a story? We’ve got you… listen here! Or on our player down below👇🏼
The gardens aren’t the only thing that were once lost at Heligan. So too was the water vole and, just like those stunning gardens, they too are making a comeback, writes Alex Duff.
CHAOS Radio’s Tom Howe and Joe Allen donned their walking boots to chat with ‘the face of wildlife at Heligan Gardens’, wildlife coordinator, Toby Davies.
“We surveyed the land down the lost valley to Mevagissey and found evidence that there used to be water voles here,” Toby says.
The plight of the water vole
The water vole became locally extinct in the early 1990s due to a combination of habitat loss and natural predators, and is now one of Britain’s most endangered mammals. This week however, they make their comeback at Heligan as Toby and his team of volunteers reintroduce 120 of them.
The keystone species
Heligan’s newest residents are the largest vole in the country, growing up to ten times larger than their counterparts. As a keystone species, their considerable size influences their feeding and burrowing behaviours, which in turn create habitats for other animals and promote plant diversity.
This reintroduction effort dovetails with two other recent wildlife projects at Heligan. Just this summer, 60 glow worm larvae were introduced, and at the end of last year, so too were a pair of Beavers.
Welcome to ‘Buggingham Palace’
While ‘releasing’ new species may sound straight forward, it’s really anything but.
Before introducing the glowworm larvae, Toby and the team cleared areas of bare ground to develop a suitable habitat, creatively named ‘Bugginham Palace’.
“The glowworms need to be grown,” explains Toby, “so what we’re doing is supporting the conditions for the next generation of glowworm.”
Challenges in wildlife introduction
However, not all releases go smoothly. Last year’s beaver introduction faced challenges, as Toby recently discovered the male of the duo had died.
“We’ve checked the female and she’s healthy,” reassures Toby, “so we’re currently looking for another male to introduce”, something he hopes to do this autumn.
So, if it’s been a while since you visited Heligan, maybe, just like the water vole, now is the perfect time to make your return. Not only do the lost gardens await but also a burgeoning wealth of wildlife that lies beneath.
For more information, visit https://www.heligan.com/
#KeepItCHAOS
