Water vole (Arvicola amphibius) abundance in grassland habitats of Glasgow

Water vole (Arvicola amphibius) populations have\ud undergone a serious decline throughout the UK, and\ud yet a stronghold of these small mammals is found in\ud the greater Easterhouse area of Glasgow. The water\ud voles in this location are mostly fossorial, living a\ud largely subterranean existence in grasslands, rather\ud than the more typical semi-aquatic lifestyle in\ud riparian habitats. In this study, we carried out\ud capture-mark-recapture surveys on water voles at\ud two sites: Cranhill Park and Tillycairn Drive. We\ud made a total of 62 captures including retraps, and the\ud resulting population estimates were 78 individuals\ud (95% confidence interval 41-197) for Cranhill Park\ud and 42 individuals (20-141) for Tillycairn Drive.\ud From these figures we estimated a population\ud density of water voles, which appeared to be higher\ud than other reports from the UK. Despite the\ud difficulties of sampling in urban environments that\ud resulted in relatively low capture rates, our data\ud suggest that the greater Easterhouse area of Glasgow\ud holds water voles at relatively high population\ud densities. These results will inform future\ud conservation in the City of Glasgow and surrounding\ud areas, as well as raise awareness of important water\ud vole populations in urban environments.