text: The £135,000 was spent trapping and moving water voles from the Somerset Levels ahead of dredging . Taxpayers have footed a £135,000 bill to move 50 protected water voles - at a cost of £2,500 per animal - to allow dredging of the Somerset Levels. The bill for moving the creatures is nearly six times the original estimate, it was revealed today. In January and February 2014 residents on the Levels were forced to abandon their homes after record rainfall saw rivers burst their banks following years of insufficient dredging. More than 600 homes and 17,000 acres of farmland were inundated with quickly rising waters and entire villages were cut off in the wettest January since records began in 1766. But the Environment Agency says it has a legal duty under EU-backed regulations to protect the water voles as an endangered species. The £135,000 was spent trapping and moving 55 of the six-inch-long furry creatures from their bankside burrows on the Somerset Levels ahead of dredging work. In February, when the scheme was first revealed it was estimated it would cost £24,000 to put the tiny voles into 'winter storage'. But now the Environment Agency has admitted that another £86,000 had to be spent on a 'wildlife survey'. Previously the agency had claimed the wildlife survey was not part of the cost of relocating the voles. And when other costs are factored in, the total bill came to £135,000. Scroll down for video . The survey involved setting up traps along the river banks and checking them over a period of several months - the cost of which was not previously disclosed. Now some Somerset Levels residents - while anxious to have rivers dredged to avoid the devastating floods from two winters ago - think the scheme is an unnecessary waste of public money. They say the people who approved the plan are living in Kenneth Grahame's book for children, The Wind in the Willows, featuring Ratty - a water vole - Mole, Badger and Mister Toad. Farmer James Winslade believes the voles would have moved themselves elsewhere when the dredgers began work and argues they did not need to be captured and moved 100 miles to a new home. Residents  abandoned their homes after  rivers burst their banks following years of insufficient dredging . More than 600 homes and 17,000 acres of farmland (pictured) were inundated with quickly rising waters in late 2013 and early 2014 and entire villages were cut off in the wettest January since records began in 1766 . He said dredging often took place across the Levels before the Environment Agency took over, and that in the past it had never appeared to affect the vole population. 'They're not stupid, they'll feel the vibration of the dredgers and move - it's not like they haven't any other habitat to move on to,' he said. 'The river bank adjoins fields so they can move from the river banks to the fields, and move back once the dredgers have gone.' Money spent on relocating the voles was a small percentage of the £6 millionspent on dredging five miles (8 km) of the rivers Tone and Parrett, the agency said previously. The 'rescued' voles spent the winter in an 'over-wintering facility' before being moved to new riverside homes in Hampshire and Cornwall. Ecology expert Graeme Skinner said the work required professional, academically-trained people 'who hold relevant licences'. The Environment Agency says it has a legal duty  to protect water voles (pictured) as an endangered species . The levels today, after the flooding - the voles have now been moved to a new home 100 miles away . Some Somerset Levels residents - while anxious to have rivers dredged to avoid the devastating floods (pictured) - think the scheme to remove the voles is an unnecessary waste of public money . He said: 'They are undertaking sometimes long, arduous hours in the field to make sure it's up to the standard that is required nowadays.' About 130,000 cubic metres of silt was removed from the Parrett and Tone rivers at Burrowbridge after the floods devastated hundreds of homes. An Environment Agency spokesman said 'We had a legal duty to move the voles, which are critically endangered and protected. 'The over-wintering is necessary to ensure their survival. 'Relocating them was an essential piece of work - if we hadn't moved this population of voles then it would not have been possible to complete the dredging. 'It is unusual for the agency to undertake a substantial relocation project like this.' The dredging forms the first phase of the 20-year Somerset Flood Action Plan. Following the devastation, which took place between December 2013 and March 2014, 8,000 metres of river was dredged at a cost of £6 million. About 130,000 cubic metres of silt was removed from the Parrett and Tone rivers at Burrowbridge .
target: It has cost the taxpayer £135,000 to move 55 protected water voles .
  They have been removed from Somerset Levels for dredging to take place .
  In  2014 over 600 homes and 17,000 acres of farmland were flooded with water after rivers burst their banks following years of insufficient dredging .
  Critics say moving the voles is an unnecessary waste of public money .