Welcome to Water Rats!
Water Rats is for children and families who are interested in finding out more about the River Arrow and getting involved in protecting and improving our wonderful river and streams.
We’d like to inspire a life-long love for the river in all children.
Sign up for our newsletter
Our regular newsletter has a special family edition which contains news and ideas for activities for families and children.
Sign up for our newsletter here.
Get your school involved
The River Arrow Trust is keen to work with all schools across the Arrow catchment.
We’re enabling school visits to the river, and exploring bringing the river into schools through workshops for subjects including science, geography, English, music, art and well-being.
Please get in touch if you are a teacher, governor, or parent/carer and would like to chat.
Downloadable Resources
Thanks to funding from Herefordshire Community Foundation we’re developing a selection of free downloadable worksheets supporting the KS2 science, geography and English curriculum.
The worksheets link learning directly to the Arrow catchment and the local environment.
Explore the River Arrow catchment
Why does the River Arrow flood?
How can we help reduce flooding?
Where would you put Natural Flood Management?
How is the River Arrow catchment used?
What impacts water quality in the River Arrow?
People that help with the River Arrow
River Arrow Trust Flood Safety
River Arrow Trust Water Safety
River Arrow Food Chains and Webs
Plant and Animal Profile Project
Download all 16 worksheets as a zip file here (3.2MB)
You may find these links useful:
Canal & Rivers Trust River Learning
South East Rivers Trust Junior River Rangers
Welsh Water Teaching Resources
What is a Water Rat?
It’s not actually a rat!
The mammal commonly known as a water rat is actually the northern water vole. It’s the inspiration for the character ‘Ratty’ in the book The Wind in the Willows and shouldn’t be confused with the more common brown rat.
Water voles are listed as endangered on both the Great Britain and the England Red List for Mammals.
Water voles have round noses, deep brown fur, chubby faces and short fuzzy ears. Their tails, paws, and ears are covered with fur. They are around 14 to 22cm long, plus their tail.
Water Vole at Arundel, Sussex by Peter Trimming, CC BY-SA 2.0, via Wikimedia Commons
In Britain, water voles live in burrows on the banks of rivers, streams and ditches. They like to eat grass and herbs neasr the water, but will also eat fruit, nuts and seeds, roots and buds.
They are expert swimmers and divers, and do not usually live in large groups.
American mink are a treat to water voles.
Let us know if you’ve seen a water rat in the Arrow catchment.