Water vole colony established in Hampshire to help protect endangered species

• Video report by ITV News Meridian's Sally Simmonds

A colony of water voles has been established in Hampshire to help to protect the endangered species.

As the Environment Agency started work on river defences in Salisbury, around 20 precious, protected water voles were moved to safety, to farmland in Hampshire.

There were not enough to sustain a new colony, so 50 bred in captivity have joined them and will find a new home just south of Ringwood.

The riverbanks provide plenty of space for burrowing and the thick vegetation provides food and protection from predators.

The small mammal has had one of the most serious falls in population of any mammal in Britain.

Andy Wallis, Environment Agency, said: "Over the last 40 years their population has dropped by 90%.

"They're really in danger, one of the most endangered species in the UK so we have to do a lot to protect them."

Coral Edgcumbe, ecologist, added: "In the nineties something like 7,000 mink were released from farms up the road so obviously that decimated the whole local population of water voles and put us in the situation that we are in today where although the mink are now declining, water voles can't colonise without help."

Once this colony is established, the next generation will gradually move along the river bank and within five years numbers could reach a thousand.