Over the last 12 months TSL has installed in excess of 8,000 metres of Water Vole Fencing on sites across the country.
TSL installs its own award winning Herpetosure Water Vole Fencing, which is not only reusable and recyclable; it also beats alternative plywood systems on product performance and price!
On the 06/04/2008 water voles became fully covered by section 9 of the Wildlife and Countryside Act 1981 (WCA). Prior to this the water vole was only covered by section 9(4) and had limited legal protection.
This full legal protection has major implications for developers and construction teams must ensure that their schemes do not kill on-site water vole populations or destroy their habitat.
Developers must undertake surveys to identify the presence of water voles prior to any riparian site clearance or development which affects water course banks; if work starts on-site and water voles or their burrows are subsequently found, all works must stop immediately to avoid breaking the law.
Water vole surveys are carried out between March and September and identify field survey signs including; faeces, latrines, feeding stations, burrows, nests and footprints etc. If water voles are present the developer will be required to replace lost habitat, enhance existing habitat and set out how water voles will be translocated from the affected areas to make way for the works. This mitigation strategy must be approved by Natural England and a Conservation Licence is required prior to any translocation of water voles – all of which Three Shires can assist with.
THIS TRANSLOCATION PROCESS IS WHERE WATER VOLE FENCING COMES IN. WATER VOLE FENCING HAS A NUMBER OF APPLICATIONS IN WATER VOLE MITIGATION: