The American mink control project run by the Scottish Invasive Species Initiative has been operating for 6 years and so far has captured 673 mink across the north of Scotland. Each year over 300 volunteers monitor an extensive network of rafts and traps, collectively contributing over 103,000 hours since the project began. After 6 years of co-ordinated control, it is important to look back and ask how effective the mink control programme has been so that we can continue to reduce mink numbers and the impact this invasive species has on Scotland’s ecosystems and native biodiversity. My ongoing research at the University of Aberdeen, in collaboration with the Initiative, is helping to answer these questions by investigating how the past and current mink control efforts have helped native species recover.
The Scottish Invasive Species Initiative encompasses a large area in Scotland (over 1/3 of the mainland) and is only possible thanks to the collective efforts of a large network of people, including project and fishery board staff in addition to a vast network of volunteers. Over the years the project has collected data that provides key information to better control this invasive predator – helping to identify “hot spot” capture areas for example, where ongoing control is essential. However, there are still gaps in our knowledge that need to be filled to continue protecting Scotland’s ecosystems and contribute to ongoing and future research. To fill in these gaps, we need all the help we can get, particularly from our on-the-ground experts: the volunteers.
Going forward, we have two new opportunities available for existing and new volunteers: Mink ‘super-volunteers’ and the ‘Volenteers’. These opportunities will, respectively, help understand: (1) how effective we are in reducing mink numbers in Scotland and, (2) how these efforts have contributed to the recovery of one of the UK’s most affected species by mink predation: the water vole.
Photo credit: Alan Ross
Mink ‘super-volunteers’
Mink super-volunteers will be the project’s eyes on the river and this role is suited for those interested in helping improve our ability to detect and remove invasive mink. Mink super-volunteers’ will provide key information to assess how invasive mink populations are changing year-to-year.
As with current mink volunteers, ‘super-volunteers’ would oversee monitoring rafts and traps but also collect additional data on when and where these checks occur – and whether a mink has been detected and/or captured and, equally as important, when it has not. No mink news is good news! Knowing how often mink are not detected or captured will help us understand where and why we have successfully reduced mink populations and to what extent.
To sign up please get in touch with your local Scottish Invasive Species Initiative officer. Once we have you set up with a mink raft, data will be recorded with your smartphone (or pencil and paper) and submitted through an on-line form or via email. Your monitoring rafts would be placed in a suitable spot within the project area .
Finally, super-volunteers will not exclusively be ‘mink-watchers’. As a super-volunteer you can also choose to develop your naturalist skills and learn how to identify signs of other amazing riparian species like the otter or water vole that might leave marks on or near your rafts. Do not hesitate to report any interesting signs you find!
To be a mink super-volunteer you do not require any previous expertise in mink raft monitoring or species identification as we will provide training opportunities and material – absolutely anyone can join!
‘Volenteers’
The ‘Volenteers’ opportunity will be for those of you who are interested in looking beyond the ‘mink horizon’ of the project and want to help figure out how water voles and other species may have recovered following mink control. Water voles are the UK’s second largest native rodent (second only to the beaver!) and their populations experienced a decline of over 90% during the 20th century – largely due to predation by the American mink. They serve as ecosystem engineers, cycling the nutrients in the soil when they burrow and promoting vegetation growth. What’s not to like? Since mink control programmes started in the 21st century, water voles seem to have recovered in different locations, but we still do not know exactly by how much or why that is.
Volenteers will be the extra eyes (and legs) on the ground to help monitor where water voles are in Scotland. Volenteers will participate in periodic water vole surveys (monthly for the summer months or twice a year, for example), which consist of walking alongside a strip of waterway in search of signs indicating water vole presence – such as dropping latrines which they use to mark their territories. Surveys would take place in late-spring and throughout the summer and so gives a perfect reason to go on a nice hike in the warm Scottish weather looking for water vole signs (or see the beasts if you’re lucky!) with friends and family.
You can choose to survey locations near your patch or mink monitoring rafts (if you are a mink volunteer), or even choose to do one-off surveys further away when you go hiking in the summer. Unlike mink raft locations, water vole surveys can be within or outside the Initiative’s area, just make sure you let us know where and when you would be interested in surveying beforehand as it may be necessary to get permission from landowners.
These surveys are a fantastic way to develop field and species identification skills, help an iconic Scottish species and spend time in nature. As with Mink super-volunteers, there is no need to have previous experience with these kinds of surveys. We will provide the training and guidance necessary to make sure you excel in the art of voling. If you are interested in water vole survey training, going out on practice surveys, or wanted to try it out before signing up let us know and we can arrange something for you.
How to sign up?
If you are looking to sign up or have any questions, do not hesitate to get in touch with me (Albert) or any other wonderful member of the Scottish Invasive Species Initiative using the contact details below. Or, if you know of someone who would be interested in participating, please send them this post (add some cute vole pictures, works a treat) and get them signed up too!
You can choose whether to be Mink super-volunteer, a Volenteer, or both, which by my naming convention would make you a Super-volenteer (now we’re talking)! If you have any doubts then do consider just giving it a go – you won’t know how rewarding this can be until you try!
We hope that these opportunities will help bring you and communities feel closer to nature and, together, help us better understand and protect our biodiversity.
Together we can help safeguard Scottish fauna and flora against invasive species in a rapidly changing climate. And who knows, maybe we can find the answer to the overarching question: how many mink is too many mink?
Contact details
Water vole surveys: To sign up as a volunteer for water vole surveys, contact Albert Bonet Bigata: a.bonetbigata.22@abdn.ac.uk
Mink volunteers: To sign up as a mink volunteer, contact your local Scottish Invasive Species Initiative Project Officer. All contact details are available on our website – if you are unsure who to speak to you can email us at: sisi@nature.scot
For more information on Albert’s PhD project you can read his first blog – ‘The big question: how many mink is too many mink?’
