WATER vole spotters are needed in Oxfordshire.

Volunteers are wanted to spend a sunny afternoon in May strolling along their local river, brook or stream to see if they can spot signs of these elusive furry rodents.

No prior experience is needed and volunteers will be given training on how to spot the signs.

The People’s Trust for Endangered Species has run the annual nationwide survey since 2015 and said the growing number of volunteers were providing data which would help protect the marvelous mammal.

Species monitoring and data officer Emily Thomas said: “We’ve had a fantastic response to the NWVMP over the last two years and the data collected so far is invaluable.

“With the help of volunteers, we will continue building a robust dataset which will be used to monitor year on year trends in the water vole population, to establish any further changes and to help guide future conservation efforts.”

Water voles were once a common sight along UK riverbanks and waterways, but during the 20th century populations crashed by nearly 90 per cent due to the intensification of agriculture, loss and fragmentation of habitat, pollution of watercourses and more recently predation by non-native American mink.

Find out more at ptes.org/watervoles