Protecting Our Native Wildlife: High Weald Mink Elimination Project

We have launched a new High Weald-wide conservation effort, the High Weald Mink Elimination Project, to protect native species from the damaging effects of the American mink.

This project is a partnership between ourselves, the High Weald National Landscape Partnership, the Waterlife Recovery Trust, local wildlife groups, and landowners.

The challenge: an invasive threat to our waterways

The High Weald National Landscape is an Area of Outstanding Natural Beauty criss-crossed by 4,613 km of water courses, most of which are small streams. These streams are the headwaters for seven river catchments, including the Medway, Rother, Ouse, and Cuckmere. The American mink is an introduced, non-native species that has disrupted the natural food chain in these waterways. This has led to a decline in vulnerable native wildlife, such as kingfishers, water voles, and ground-nesting birds.

Our solution: restoring ecological balance

To address this issue, the project will restore the natural balance of our river ecosystems by humanely eradicating the mink population. Through a coordinated, strategic trapping programme, we plan to deploy and manage 120 specialized mink traps along the High Weald’s main rivers. Reduced mink numbers will provide native species with the opportunity to recover.

A united community effort

This initiative is a true partnership that relies on the support and involvement of the local community. We are actively seeking landowners to provide locations for the traps and volunteers to help monitor them. All monitoring activities will follow strict guidelines to ensure the control is both responsible and ethical.

The project is supported financially by the High Weald Farming in Protected Landscape grant programme – link.

How to get involved

We invite anyone who would like to contribute to this vital conservation effort to get in touch. If you are a landowner or would like to volunteer to help monitor the traps, please contact Lee Dalton at lee.dalton@waterliferecoverytrust.org.uk or Alex Rumph alex.rumph@waterliferecoverytrust.org.uk

Together, we can help protect and restore the precious wildlife of the High Weald National Landscape.

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