New West Sussex home for 'endangered' water voles

Water voles on the West Sussex coast are to be encouraged to move to a new habitat created by flood defence work.

Work began in November on the £15m Selsey sea defences to protect 300 homes at risk of flooding.

A new wetland habitat on Manhood Peninsula, west of Selsey, will be created as part of the project.

A 30-strong team of volunteers will monitor the condition of ditches, streams and ponds leading to the area from the voles' existing habitat.

The Manhood Wildlife and Heritage Group project has been given a grant of £50,000 from the Heritage Lottery Fund for the work.

Defences breached

Dr Jill Sutcliffe from the group said: "We need to ensure that the ditches that lead to those new habitats are in good condition.

"The key aim is to create a long term sustainable future for the endangered water vole."

The existing shingle defences at Selsey Bill were breached in 2008 and a beachfront campsite, with more than 2,000 static caravans, had to be evacuated.

The new four-mile long sea defences will be built further inland and will also create a new wetland habitat for wildlife.

Water voles have become endangered after the destruction of their habitats and the introduction of the American mink which preys on them.

In 2005, 171 water voles were reintroduced to the Arundel Wetland Centre by the Wildfowl and Wetland Trust.

These have now bred and successfully established themselves in their new habitat.

http://www.bbc.co.uk/news/uk-england-sussex-16635298

In pictures: the seahorse fry found in English waters

Thought to be about eight weeks old
September 2011: These charming images were captured by a quick-thinking fisherman who found a baby spiny seahorse - fry - off the coast of West Sussex. It is only the second time seahorse fry have been found in England.

Fisherman Graham Andrews was four miles out to sea found the tiny creature while trying to clear his line. He had reeled in his line to clear snagged thong weed, but found the spiny seahorse curled up tightly on the weight at the end. Graham took a few pictures of the tiny creature before putting it back into the water, where it would have drifted back down to the depths to hide amongst the weed again, hoping not to be found.

Graham contacted The Seahorse Trust who run the British Seahorse Survey and reported his find so it could be added to the organisation's National Seahorse Database. Experts at the Seahorse trust think the creature was female, and about eight weeks old.

Without fishermen, divers and others submitting sightings to the database the trust would not be able to protect seahorses in the wild here in England and Wales.

Thanks to volunteers and others submitting their sightings, The Seahorse Trust had both British seahorses - the spiny seahorse and the short-snouted seahorse - added to the Wildlife and Countryside Act where they have the same protection as otters, great crested newts and water voles.

http://www.wildlifeextra.com/go/news/seahorse-fry.html