Table 1. Details of the unconfirmed reports of the Dormouse in Epping Forest District
Site Grid ref Recorder Date Green lane Nibbled Tubes put
________________________________________________________________nuts out 2007
Cannon's Green, TL574062 L.Webster Jan 2007 Yes, Essex No No
Fyfield_____________________________________________Way____________________________
Goosebury Hall, TL424049 J. & M. c. Sept Yes, Forest No Yes
Epping Long Green______________Chapman 2005 __Way____________________________
Lippitts Hill, High TQ398972 J. Moya Feb 26th Yes, Pepper Yes No
Beach____________________________________2007 Alley____________________________
Rivetts Farm, Epping TL460061 A. Begram c. 2004 Yes, Forest No Yes
Upland_____________________________________________Way____________________________
Planning for Wildlife
Darren Tansley Water for Wildlife Officer, Essex Wildlife Trust, The Joan Elliot
Visitor Centre, Abbotts Hall Farm, Great Wigborough
Water Vole habitat destruction - a loophole?
It seems incredible that a Biodiversity Action Plan Species with the dubious honour of
being the UK's fastest declining mammal, is still not fully protected in law. Indeed it is
possible for a landowner or developer to poison Water Voles, along with rats, and no
offence has been committed. This subject has been widely condemned by the Wildlife
Trust's Water Vole Specialist Gi'oup as it makes a mockery of our efforts to protect this
species.
But at least until now protection has been afforded to a structure or place which water
voles use for shelter or protection. It is also an offence to disturb Water Voles while they
are using such a place. The planning authorities have taken this on board, and most
developers are now well aware of the need to survey for Water Voles before any work is
undertaken on waterways or waterbodies that may be occupied. That was until a recent
case highlighted the need for clarification of what precisely constitutes "disturbance".
Water Voles in the UK are highly dependent on water levels for their continued occupa-
tion of a site, as they use underwater burrows to evade terrestrial or avian predators such
as Heron, Stoat or Fox. When water levels drop, or disappear completely. Water Vole
numbers crash in a relatively short space of time. The general interpretation of the law
protecting Water Vole sites has been that burrows should not be destroyed or damaged,
but in a recent disturbing development, water was deliberately drained from a Water
Vole occupied site in order to discourage Water Vole occupation. Is an offence being
committed?
There has yet to be a test case for this particularly cynical method of circumventing the
Wildlife and Countryside Act, but the definition of disturbance given in the Water Vole
Conservation Handbook is:
12
Essex Field Club Newsletter No. 54, September 2007