Yesterday evening (August 29th) marked the landmark return of Water Voles to the Hogsmill River in Kingston for the first time in five years.

Get InVOLEd, a project run by Citizen Zoo in collaboration with members of the local community, including residents and representatives from Kingston Council and Kingston University, was launched back in 2019 aiming to return the native water vole back to the river in the royal borough of Kingston upon Thames.

Yesterday's eagerly anticipated event saw over 100 ecosystem engineers return to Hogsmill as the sun set on a memorable landmark for all parties involved.

Water voles have the unfortunate title of the UK's fastest declining mammal, and prior to last night's event, there had been no record of the endangered species in the Kingston river since 2019.

The Citizen Zoo project began with the social enterprise training 60 local volunteers to survey the Hogsmill and identify viable habitats for the water voles.

From there, a separate team was set up to focus on habitat restoration, invasive species monitoring, fundraising as well as community and dog walker engagement.

The water voles prior to their Hogsmill return after five years (Photo credit: Citizen Zoo).

Through coordinated activities with over 350 members of the Kingston community, Citizen Zoo was able to carry out 25 restoration days to improve the Hogsmill habitat further, carry out a successful fundraiser to purchase the voles themselves and run weekly surveys to monitor the river for signs of the invasive American mink.

Over 350 volunteers have been key to the Citizen Zoo water vole project at the Hogsmill (Photo credit: Elliot Newton).

Ben Stockwell, Urban Rewilding Officer at Citizen Zoo said: "This project is five years in the making since water voles went locally extinct on the Hogsmill. To date, over 350 local volunteers have taken part in the project, from surveying the river for viable habitat and fundraising for the voles themselves, to taking part in river restoration and community engagement days.

"It's been a colossal effort and something we couldn't have achieved without our passionate volunteers. We can't wait to see these charismatic animals back on the river where they belong."

Shirley Rodrigues, Deputy Mayor for Environment and Energy added: "It's fantastic to see water voles returning to the Hogsmill river in Kingston.

The Mayor's Rewild London Fund grant will help monitor the progress of their reintroduction with camera traps and state-of-the-art bioacoustics recording devices, as well as supporting more habitat restoration sessions with volunteers."

To discover more on Citizen Zoo's project to return water voles to the Hogsmill, and the organisations commitment to wildlife in general, visit their site here.