Water Vole Ecology, Mitigation and Live-Capture Techniques

This 1 & 1/2 day course, led by Merryl Gelling, is aimed at professionals and assumes some prior experience of water vole ecology. It will also cover field-signs of water voles and other easily-confused species and will reference scientific research on the impacts of different habitat availability and health and welfare considerations and how they feed into mitigation practice today.

On Day One we will cover legislation, different types of mitigation and when each is suitable by working through a series of case studies and discussing potential solutions to each. This will include the implications of live-capture, transportation and maintaining water voles in captivity as well as considerations for effective re-establishment of water voles. We will then undertake a site visit to identify field signs and learn how to set traps. The following day we will check and collect traps, processing any captured voles as we go. Assuming we capture water voles, participants will gain an understanding of practical animal welfare considerations and how to handle water voles safely.

This course takes place over two days, with registration at 9:00 for a 9:30 start and finishing around 5pm on the first day. The second day will start at 8am and finish late morning, depending on capture rate and questions.

The course will be run by Dr Merryl Gelling - Merryl is the Director of Spires Ecology. She has studied and worked with water vole for many years, and has completed research into the efficacy of displacement on water voles.

A certificate will be forwarded on completion of the course.

Please note accommodation and food are NOT provided.

Accessibility:
We are committed to ensuring the accessibility of our training courses. If you require accommodations or have any accessibility concerns, please contact Fiona (training@themammalsociety.org) in advance, and we will be happy to assist you.

For booking terms and conditions click here.

*Please note - If not enough delegates book on to this course it may be postponed with two weeks notice, this is because we are a small charity and need to make sure our events are viable.