Water vole or field vole
Updated: October 2026
You are on a soft lawn, or beside holes in a ditch bank, and an amazon.co.uk listing has already called the damage moles and voles. Water vole or field vole has to be settled before a trap leaves the packet, because a water vole is protected and a field vole is the small grassland animal those traps are sold against. The listings sit on the [vole control comparison](/hub/pest-control/vole-control). This note was written on 16 October 2026 from GOV.UK, NatureScot, Natural Resources Wales, the Wildlife Trusts, the Mammal Society, NHBS and the RHS. We did not trap an animal.
You are on a soft lawn, or beside holes in a ditch bank, and an amazon.co.uk listing has already called the damage moles and voles.
You are on a soft lawn, or beside holes in a ditch bank, and an amazon.co.uk listing has already called the damage moles and voles. Water vole or field vole has to be settled before a trap leaves the packet, because a water vole is protected and a field vole is the small grassland animal those traps are sold against. The listings sit on the vole control comparison. This note was written on 16 October 2026 from GOV.UK, NatureScot, Natural Resources Wales, the Wildlife Trusts, the Mammal Society, NHBS and the RHS. We did not trap an animal.
Our top picks
| Badge | Product | Type | Site after the bank test | Do not use on | Note | Price | Offer |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| Best overall |  KQPNMJ KQPNMJ scent pack of 8 | Scent pack | Dry lawn only | A water-vole bank | 6.7 | about £15.99 | View offer |
 SWISSINNO SWISSINNO SuperCat, 1 trap | Tunnel snap | Dry shallow run, about 6 cm | A water-vole bank | 8.4 | about £17.99 | View offer | |
| Preis-Tipp |  SWISSINNO SWISSINNO wire trap, 2 pack | Wire snap | Straight dry passage | A water-vole bank | 6.6 | about £4.99 | View offer |
On this page
Four animals, four signs
A mole, a field vole, a bank vole and a water vole leave different evidence, and only the water vole is the protected animal here.
RHS guidance treats heaps of loose soil as the mole’s sign. Moles feed on invertebrates, so a hill is not proof that something is eating your plants. A field vole is the grassland animal. The Wildlife Trusts give a body of 8–13 cm and a tail of 3–4 cm. NHBS describes a cooler brown coat, against a redder bank vole of about 9–11 cm.
The water vole and the bank
A water vole is the dark animal at the water, rat-sized beside the other two. NHBS describes one up to 22 cm excluding the tail, with a hairy tail and a distinct plop as it dives. The Wildlife Trusts say the field vole is absent from Northern Ireland.
A shallow run in dry grass, with no open water, fits the field vole or the bank vole. A hole in a vegetated bank of a slow ditch, a canal or a stream fits the water vole, even if you never see it. That bank is the next test, and it overrides a product title that simply says vole.
What you must not trap
If the holes are in a vegetated bank of slow water, treat the animal as a water vole and do not set a trap from this category. Water voles are protected under the Wildlife and Countryside Act 1981. In England, GOV.UK states that intentional killing, injury or taking is an offence, as is intentional or reckless damage, disturbance or blocking of a shelter. Natural Resources Wales describes the same section 9 structure, so a Welsh ditch bank is the same stop. NatureScot says Scotland currently protects places of shelter, and that still covers a burrow you would block with a tunnel trap.
The Small Ground Vermin Traps Order 1958 does not rewrite the water-vole offence. Humane on a title is not a licence. If you are unsure, stop. Do not set the trap to see what you catch, and do not move a scent ball or a solar stake onto that bank. Call an ecologist where the damage follows a ditch or a pond.
What a dry lawn still allows you to consider
A confirmed shallow run on a dry lawn, away from a vegetated water bank, is the field-vole or bank-vole case. The vole control buying guide compares a tunnel or wire trap, a scent pack and a solar stake. The how to set a vole trap page comes only after that choice is a trap. None of those pages is a reason to return to a ditch bank.
Hills without a surface run are a mole case. GOV.UK describes a mole trap set at least 150 mm down in a main tunnel, while a vole tunnel trap is the wrong shape for that hill. In Northern Ireland, do not call a dry run a field vole until the animal is identified locally.
Common questions
How do I tell a molehill from a vole run?
RHS guidance points hills of loose soil to moles, and soft lawns with shallow tunnels to voles. If you have only hills, leave the vole trap in the box.
What does a water vole burrow look like compared with a field vole run?
A field vole run is a shallow track in grassland, made by an animal the Wildlife Trusts size at 8–13 cm in the body and 3–4 cm in the tail. A water vole burrow is a hole in a vegetated bank beside slow water.
Is a bank vole protected?
The offence on this page is the water vole’s, under the Wildlife and Countryside Act 1981 in England and Wales, and the shelter rule NatureScot describes in Scotland. These sources do not place the bank vole under that same rule. That still does not clear a wet bank.
Are field voles in Northern Ireland?
The Wildlife Trusts say the field vole is absent from Northern Ireland, the Isle of Man, most Scottish islands, the Isles of Scilly and most of the Channel Islands. A damaged lawn there is not a field-vole job. A vegetated bank of slow water is still a stop.
Is it an offence to trap a water vole in England?
Yes. GOV.UK states that intentional killing, injury or taking of a water vole is an offence, as is intentional or reckless damage, disturbance or blocking of a shelter. A tunnel trap in the burrow is the case those words prevent.
Does Scotland treat the water vole the same way?
NatureScot says Scotland currently protects the water vole’s places of shelter, and disturbance there, and does not currently protect the animal itself as England and Wales do. That is a narrower rule, and it is not permission to trap.
If I am still unsure, what should I buy?
Buy nothing from this category until the bank test is passed. This page will not name a stake or a tunnel trap for a water-vole burrow. If you still cannot name the animal, call an ecologist.
Related pages
Sources
Public UK sources from the research digest, last checked on 17.10.2026.
- GOV.UK water vole planning advice (retrieved 17.10.2026)
- NatureScot water vole protection (retrieved 17.10.2026)
- Natural Resources Wales water vole licensing (retrieved 17.10.2026)
- Pests Act 1954 section 8 (retrieved 17.10.2026)
- Small Ground Vermin Traps Order 1958 (retrieved 17.10.2026)
- GOV.UK foxes, moles and mink (retrieved 17.10.2026)
- RHS mice and voles (retrieved 17.10.2026)
- Wildlife Trusts field vole (retrieved 17.10.2026)