VWTImpactReport28Oct2025PT - Flipbook - Page 13
Otter range in1975 and 2018
1975
2018
“
One of the Trust’s most signi昀椀cant
achievements was addressing and
reversing, with others through the
Joint Otter Group, the otter’s post-WW2
decline in Britain.
Dr Johnny Birks, Retired Director of Swift
Ecology. Ex-Chair of Mammal Society and
former VWT sta昀昀 member.
How did VWT make an impact?
Otters
As a personal focus of the late Honourable Vincent Weir,
VWT aimed to obtain data on otters that would lead to
their legal protection and inform how to reverse their
decline. Between 1977 and 1985, VWT was responsible
for national otter surveys in Scotland, Wales and Ireland,
and took over the England national survey in the 1990s.
The methodology developed for these surveys was
adopted as standard by the International Union for
the Conservation of Nature (IUCN).
Otters in England and Wales were granted protection from
hunting in 1978, and full legal protection across the UK
under the Wildlife and Countryside Act (1981) and the
‘Habitats Directive’ in 1994. In 2018 their range was around
223,000km2 with an expanding population size (11,000).
an unnoticed large-scale decline. Simultaneously, VWT
began to analyse mink diets and assess mink distribution,
quantifying the threat of feral American mink to the
native water vole. Data collected laid the foundation
for Britain-wide water vole conservation, including
targeted reintroductions, mink control programmes
and habitat restoration. VWT’s early work with water
voles underscored the importance of evidence-based
conservation and collaborative action, principles that
continue to guide its mission today. Whilst VWT no
longer works on water voles, the current national water
vole monitoring programme is using the original survey
sites established by VWT, allowing for data comparison
and informing future actions.
©Frank Greenaway
These surveys, population distribution data, habitat
protection and monitoring, along with conservation
actions such as reintroduction and provision of 昀椀shing
equipment alternatives, and legal measures such as
the granting of protection in 1978 and the ban on
organochlorine pesticides in 1981 all contributed to the
remarkable recovery of otters across Britain.
VWT carried out the 昀椀rst radio-tracking study of otters
in parts of Europe, in Perthshire and the Outer Hebrides
in 1981, 昀椀lling more evidence gaps on distribution,
habitat use and requirements.
Water voles
In the 1980s and 1990s, VWT conducted pioneering
national surveys to assess the status and distribution
of water voles across the UK, some of the earliest
large-scale efforts to systematically monitor this iconic
riparian species, quantifying and bringing attention to
Vincent Wildlife Trust 50 Years Impact Report 2025
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