Banking on old techniques

British Waterways used old techniques to protect water vole habitats, dredge and rebuild the canal embankment

BRITISH Waterways have been re-using 200-year-old techniques to protect water vole habitats while dredging and rebuilding the embankment of the Kennet and Avon Canal near Hungerford.

As part of the £600,000 project, a 2.5km stretch of the waterway embankment is being rebuilt with techniques dating back to ideas of the canal's original creator, John Rennie.

One of the biggest problems faced by the engineers was how to create natural looking, stable canal banks that are also friendly to water vole.

The most elegant solution to the problem turned out to be planting tussock sedges along the bank, as Mr Rennie did.

British Waterways dredging manager, Paul Fox, said: “It is absolutely great to replicate the techniques John Rennie used, in a small way, while we are reconstructing the canal.

“The environmentally friendly bank protection we are using will ultimately provide good habitat for the water vole.”

British Waterways ecologist, Oda Dijksterhuis, said: “John Rennie originally planted tussock sedges when the canal was first built, because as the plant grows and its roots form, they help knit the soil and sediment together, stopping erosion and defending the bank.

“They provide a good food source and in this area, the voles can even make their homes in the sedges that are planted.

“On the Kennet and Avon we have a real stronghold for water vole, whereas nationally their numbers are declining, so it is something we should be investing in.”

She explained that water voles normally burrow into the soft canal bank, but that in the tussock sedges they prefer to build their nests amongst the reeds, where they are hidden away from predators.

Water voles are the UK's fastest declining mammal, with habitat destruction and predators to blame.

British Waterways has benefitted from the help of local volunteers who helped with the planting of the tussock sedges.

The Kennet and Avon Canal celebrated its 200th anniversary in December.