THE bill to help prevent flooding on the Somerset Levels went up by £24,000 – because of the presence of water voles.

That’s how much it cost to move 55 of the protected creatures before dredging on the rivers Tone and Parrett.

The Environment Agency said the cost of relocating voles to Cornwall and Hampshire worked out at around £436 per animal.

Voles were trapped along a five-mile stretch of the two rivers as part of a £86,000 wildlife survey.

An EA spokesman said: “Relocating them was essential – if we hadn’t moved this population of voles, then it wouldn’t have been possible to complete the dredging.”