Kernow Conservation Water Vole Project

Aim

To help continue and expand our work with water voles in Cornwall, building on the success of our previous reintroductions.

🐾 Help Us Expand Water Vole Reintroductions Across Cornwall

Who are we?

Kernow Conservation CIC is a community interest company dedicated to restoring wildlife and biodiversity in Cornwall. Our team comprises conservationists, landowners, and passionate volunteers working collaboratively to protect and reintroduce native species. Our projects include:

• Water Vole Reintroductions: Since 2022, we've successfully reintroduced around 400 water voles across two adjoining valleys in Cornwall.
• Beaver Restoration: We're actively engaging with stakeholders to identify suitable areas for future beaver releases.
• Osprey Nesting Platforms: We've installed and are monitoring artificial nest platforms to encourage ospreys to breed in Cornwall for the first time since the 1600s.

Why are we fundraising?

Water voles, once common across Cornwall, have suffered dramatic declines due to habitat loss and predation by invasive American mink. Our successful reintroductions have shown promise, but there's more work to be done.

Why water voles matter:

Water voles are vital ecosystem engineers. Their activities benefit the environment in several ways:

• Plant Biodiversity: By grazing on over 227 plant species, they prevent any single species from dominating, promoting diverse plant life.
• Soil Health: Their burrowing aerates the soil, enhancing microbial activity and improving soil quality.
• Food Web: They serve as a crucial food source for predators like barn owls, kestrels, herons, and otters.

Restoring water voles helps restore whole ecosystems. But without continued monitoring and reintroduction efforts, their future in Cornwall remains uncertain.

With this crowdfunding campaign, we aim to:

• Survey and identify additional suitable habitats across Cornwall.
• Recruit, train and manage volunteers to survey for water vole presence and activity.
• Organise and manage volunteer days for water vole habitat management and restoration.
• Monitor and manage threats from invasive species like the American mink.
• Film and edit footage for social media outreach and updates.
• Educate and engage local communities through talks and visits.

Your support will help us scale up our efforts, ensuring water voles can once again flourish throughout Cornwall's waterways.

How will your donation be used?

Your contributions will support the project through providing funding for:

• Purchasing surveying equipment for water voles and American mink
• Working with landowners to find and restore new sites for water voles
• Providing training days for community volunteers
• Organising and managing habitat management days and purchasing tools and PPE for volunteers
• Creating social media content to reach wider audiences and raise awareness of the plight of the water vole.

Be part of the solution

• By supporting this project, you're helping rebuild Cornwall's natural heritage.
• Every donation, big or small, pushes us closer to a future where water voles once again thrive along our rivers and streams.

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Let's bring back the water vole – together.

Testimonials from some of our Wild Kernow Business Members:

“It is going to take passion to conserve our countryside for future generations. As a business trying to achieve Net Zero, the global challenge can feel overwhelming which makes our efforts feel trivial by comparison. Then you find organisations like Kernow Conservation who need your support. Their commitment to our wildlife shines out in their work with landowners and restoring biodiversity. If everyone did that, then achieving a sustainable future will become more of a possibility.

”No business should be an island. We all have a responsibility to be part of our wider community. We cannot ignore the pressing need for us all to take action to ensure global security. It is important to clients and staff so why would you not make it part of your business strategy? What we like about Kernow Conservation is that we can see the difference they are making. In a world of increasingly grim news, doing something visibly positive is just what every business needs.”

— Hannah Rowe - Director, Rowe IT

“We owe everything we have to our natural world. As humans, we dramatically affect every aspect of the natural world, and we have an incumbent responsibility to protect that which was given. Over the coming years, all businesses will seek more sustainable ways to operate. At Richfords, we strongly believe that supporting and nurturing biodiversity is critical to sustainability. Our support of Kernow Conservation and their fantastic work enables us to have a direct and tangible effect on improving biodiversity.

”Just one of the many things you will love about supporting Kernow Conservation is the direct and tangible benefits your support will enable. Our team at Richfords was pleased and proud that the company sponsored Kernow Conservation, but when our team members had the opportunity to be directly involved, the sense of pride and well-being right across the team rocketed. ”

— Michael Cooper Business Development Director, Richfords Fire & Flood

“To witness the reintroduction of a species that was previously extinct across the county, and to know that our hard work and success as a company has contributed towards this program was a great privilege and something we can hopefully all be proud of.”

— Sam Culley, Richfords Technician

“We are so delighted to support the great work Kernow Conservation are doing. As a registered B-Corp, being able to work in partnership with KC is part of the commitment that we, as a business, have to being a force for good. In addition to our own efforts to have positive impacts in all that we do, part of this commitment is to donate to charities and projects that are doing the same. We wanted to concentrate on charities and projects local to us, and we feel strongly about nature conservation. Kernow Conservation fits these objectives perfectly. It is a relatively small organisation, with a very hands-on focus on using smart and targeted actions to make big impacts on biodiversity and nature conservation in our own locality.

On attending our water vole release:

”Being outside, seeing the water voles up close, and rolling up our sleeves to help set them up in their new home, was a wonderful day. It didn’t hurt being warm and sunny. Seeing Joe and David in their element and getting to share their enthusiasm for the work was really encouraging. One of the best things about it was meeting and connecting with other Cornish businesses, from a wide range of sectors and backgrounds, all sharing the desire to support and restore nature in Cornwall by putting their time and resources behind groups like Kernow conservation. We certainly came away inspired by that, as well as by the brave little voles themselves!

We are not a large business and want our limited resources that we are able to donate to go a long way. Kernow Conservation are a small organisation and the support of businesses like ours is of vital importance to them. Their ecological expertise means that they target their programs to have a big ecosystem impact with small and targeted interventions, and partnering with them makes us feel like we are making an important contribution to nature in Cornwall. ”

— Prune and Collin, Directors, Prune Harris Ltd.

“All of us at Cornish Tin are proud to support the valuable work being done by Kernow Conservation.

It has always been, right from our earliest days, an essential aim of Cornish Tin to benefit our natural environment. As well as our tree-planting programmes, we know that our support to Kernow Conservation makes a direct contribution to environmental diversity and protection in Cornwall.

Some of our geologists participated in a recent water vole release into the wild, and said how great it was to be part of a hands-on effort to support the natural wildlife of Cornwall.

As a local company we think it’s important to support Kernow Conservation’s valuable work and I am sure that it would appeal to many other businesses looking for an effective way to help protect Cornwall’s natural environment.”

— Sally Norcross-Webb, Founder and CEO of Cornish Tin

“Sustainability and community are two main pillars of Brooks Estates and Kernow Conservation aligns with both these factors and only supports and furthers us towards our goals. Brooks Estates are proud to support and be a part of the growing community of partnerships that also support Kernow Conservation. Kernow Conservation also provide an opportunity for individuals to reconnect with nature and aware and be involved in local environmental projects.

”Brooks Estates are advocates for supporting local communities and organisations, especially when the environment is at the helm. For Brooks Estates Ltd, this partnership has been an investment in time, knowledge and awareness of local environmental projects. Kernow Conservation is creating a growing community of likeminded businesses, and we are proud of this partnership.”

On attending our water vole release:

”The whole day was brilliant. It was a great opportunity to meet other likeminded businesses and learn more about what these fascinating creatures do and how they benefit not only the local ecosystem, but so many other species in so many ways. The best part of the day was the use of a pringles can as transport equipment!”

— Flora Tswei Assistant Ecologist, Brooks Estates

Funding method

Keep what you raise – this project will receive all pledges made