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Vole heaven

The London Wetland Centre isn't just good for birds. It is a prefect place for one of our most threatened mammals, the water vole. Bill Oddie helps Rob to release captive bred water voles into the wild. They are first released into an outdoor pen to let them acclimatise. There is a litter of seven in their cage and the guys place them one by one into the pen. These are eight weeks old and of an age where they'll be driven away by their mother because she's pregnant again. The youngsters will start tunnelling in the pen and eventually dig their way out. Once in the pen, the youngsters disappear into the luxuriant undergrowth. All the voles have microchips in them so that the project can keep track of how they are doing. This is the biggest water vole release project in Britain, and the first in London.

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3 minutes

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