Once a common sight on Britain’s riverbanks, the much-adored “Ratty” has become a rarity on many of the UK’s waterways.

But now the animal made famous by The Wind in the Willows is making a remarkable comeback in the South Downs National Park, with a detailed ecological report showing that water voles are indeed thriving, and busily breeding, on the River Meon in Hampshire.

The scientific survey comes just over a decade after a local reintroduction programme of the water vole, which remains the country’s fastest declining mammal species, losing 95 per cent of its range over the past 100 years. The biggest reasons for the decline have been habitat loss and predation by the non-native American Mink.