Green Central: click here to read Times Online's environment blog

Water voles are to be given protection from persecution and accidental disturbance to try to stem the decline in their population. The species has suffered more than a 90 per cent fall in numbers in less than 20 years.

Joan Ruddock, the Minister for Biodiversity, announced yesterday that the creatures would be afforded the same legal protection as otters.

From April 6 it will be an offence to kill or disturb water voles, and any devlopers trying to build on their habitat will have to catch every specimen in the area and provide them with a new home.

Angel sharks, roman snails, spiny seahorses and short-snouted seahorses joined water voles on the list of creatures to be given extra protection under the Wildlife and Countryside Act 1981.

The two species of seahorse given protection from being caught or having their shelters disturbed have been targeted by the traditional medicine and aquarium industries. Numbers are thought to have slumped to the point where the species are at risk.

Roman snails, found mainly in central England, are a favourite among amateur cooks, and the angel shark, which will have full protection up to six miles (10km) from the coast, is hunted by sports fishermen.

Ms Ruddock announced the species while on a visit to the London Wetlands Centre of the Wildfowl and Wetlands Trust in Barnes, southwest London, which has helped to provide habitat for the endangered water voles. “It is in all our interests that England’s valuable wildlife is protected, and a lot of work has been done to ensure that the list of species being protected is comprehensive,” she said.

“The additional protection we are providing for these creatures will ensure a more secure future for their species.” The measures will apply initially only to England but officials of the Department for Environment, Food and Rural Affairs are in negotiations with the devolved authorities for similar protection to be introduced in Scotland and Wales.

Habitat loss and predation by American mink are thought to have been the most serious threats posed to the water vole but trapping and persecution are also thought to have played a role.

Stephanie Hilborne, the chief executive of The Wildlife Trusts, said that “this lifeline” for the water vole was well overdue. She said: “Water voles have been lost from many parts of the UK, including significant areas such as Cornwall, but this excellent news will undoubtedly help our efforts to bring the water vole back from the brink.

“Full legal protection should ensure remaining water vole populations are not compromised during development works and that incidents of trapping and persecution do not go unpunished.”

Alastair Driver, who oversees water vole conservation at the Environment Agency, described the measures as great news for the species. “It not only serves to minimise deliberate persecution and accidental poisoning, but also clarifies the law for planners and developers. Water vole populations have declined by 90 per cent since 1990 and this added protection will make a real difference to the work being done to conserve this charismatic species.”

At risk

— Called a water rat but really a vole
— Largest vole in Britain
— Distinguished from true rat by blunt face, rounded ears and furry tail
— Fastest-declining mammal in Britain
— Consumes 80 per cent of own body weight daily
— Kicks up clouds of mud in water when threatened
— Has disappeared from 94 per cent of its historic sites
— Can live 2 years
— Average length of life: 5.4 months
— Gives birth to up to five litters a year
— Average litter: 6
— Linnean name: Arvicola terrestris

Source: Times database

Times recommends

• Prince Philip attacks big families
• Take a dip in Dubai-on-Thames
• Eco Worrier: How can I persuade my husband to use a push mower?