A WATER creature almost wiped out by a mass escape of mink was reintroduced to one of its traditional sites yesterday.

Ecologists and volunteers at Foxglove Covert, Catterick Garrison spent a damp and drizzly morning introducing 70 water voles to various parts of the 94-acre reserve.

Another 70 are due to be released in a few weeks' time.

There have been no water voles at Foxglove Covert since 2000 when the surviving animals were wiped out by North American mink.

Water vole populations up and down the country have been destroyed by the predators following mass escapes from fur farms. National surveys have shown the voles have been lost from 94 per cent of breeding sites.

At Foxglove Covert, the last of the mink have been eradicated, and managers decided the time was right to bring the water vole back.

The creatures released yesterday were bred in Devon, but the stock is originally from Yorkshire.

Freelance ecologist, Derek Gow, who runs the breeding programme in Devon, said it is increasingly important for native species to be looked after.

"Kenneth Grahame created Ratty in the Wind in the Willows as a quintessentially English character and based him on a water vole," said Mr Gow.

"It is very important in this country that we start to take seriously and conserve the heritage of our own animals."

He is confident that the rodents will survive and flourish in Foxglove Covert's rich mixture of streams, ponds, lakes and woodland.

"Studies suggest 85 per cent survive from the time of release to breeding," he said.

"This is a good habitat for them where there is a wide range of plant species, so their chances are pretty good."

Major Tony Crease, of the reserve's management committee, added: "This place had not seen a water vole for the last five or six years and we were keen to reintroduce them.

"We are delighted to see them here and we are pretty sure that they will be successful."