The not-so-common dormouse

Illustration: Clara Prieto

This month’s Mammal of the Month is the hazel (or common) dormouse which is no surprise as
May is usually when surveys start for this species as they are now out and about after 5 months
in hibernation. The dormouse however is not so common, even if the name suggests otherwise,
in the UK (or in fact Europe) and has been afforded European Protected Species status which
means it is illegal to intentionally or recklessly disturb a dormouse or destroy its resting place
amongst other clauses (see Natural England website for its full legal protection information).

Under a NE licence dormouse boxes can be opened and checked and although everyone hopes
dormice will be resident, it is not always the case... these lovely dry, draught-proof (to a degree)
wooden boxes can become homes for a myriad of species; from bees to yellow-neck mice. It
does make a surveyor a little nervous when approaching a box; "Will it be a small mammal or a
box that buzzes?"

The Berkshire Mammal Group have four dormouse box sites around West Berkshire and we
have organised 16 dormouse box checks this year (4 per wood), two of which were carried out
this weekend (17/5/15) in Ashampstead Common and Moor Copse. Both are extremely
enchanting woods this time of the year with Bluebells abundant, and Dog’s Mercury about to
flower, however the Common Nettle is willing and able to sting at the slightest touch. Alas we
have yet to find a torpid dormouse curled up within its nest, but fingers and toes are crossed that
the not-so-common dormouse will appear!

In the meantime we have had pygmy shrews, wood mice, yellow-neck mice, bees (!) and blue tit
chicks ‘a’plenty resident in the boxes.. so at least some species are making good use of these
artificial nest sites.

If you want to find out more about dormice, and maybe don’t want to experience the box buzzing
scenario, we have been working with a very talented graphic designer who has produced a
dormouse infographic for us, it is extremely informative, well illustrated and deserves to be read
and shared.  It is also available as a PDF available here.

If you want more information about dormice or maybe want to get involved please contact us!

Amanda Lloyd

Dormouse Officer BMG

Dormouse Box Check and Clean

Moor Copse Dormouse Box: Check and Clean – 18^th and 24^th January 2015

Damian Carter (BMG Treasurer)

It was time for the dormouse boxes at Moor Copse nature reserve to be checked, cleaned and, in some cases, simply located. This being the first time I’d ever done this properly, I was expecting a pleasant walk through the nature reserve, clean out a few boxes and then wander home after a good bit of fresh air. Well I was mostly right.

 

The small group of us set out with bags of spare boxes, wire, cutters, “stuffers” Amanda provided us with, a couple of ‘outdoor’ marker pens and Liz with a map marking where all the boxes where. The idea being simply to clean out the boxes, while the dormice are hibernating at ground level, re-mark the fading numbers and replace any that were broken, or missing, and remount any that needed it.

 

Wandering through a wood looking for wood-en boxes, even with a marked up map, isn’t quite as easy as it sounds, especially when you have to remember to look behind you sometimes to see the ones that you’ve just walked right past! Sharp eyes and a good sense of direction come in very handy.

So, approaching the first box I find out what the “stuffers” are for: sticking in the hole to stop any residents from escaping before we’ve had a chance to properly read them their rights and evict them! After all these are dormice boxes, not wood mice, yellow-necked mice or pygmy shrew boxes, but I guess they can read the signs!

Yellow-necked Mouse

I was actually quite surprised at just how many of the boxes were in fact occupied. We took pity on the couple of wood mice families we found which still had large numbers of young in residence.

Pygmy Shrew

Wood Mouse

We had a complete range of box contents from old mice’ nests, filled with chewed nuts; birds’ nests; an incredibly tough, sticky and elastic hive-like nest (jury still out on what these were, caterpillar, bees nest?); through to completely empty – not even a leaf!

I managed to get a few photos but sadly, like so many others, my camera skills need improving so many came out complete blurs but here’s a few of the others. If anyone can identify what creature was responsible for the droppings in one of these it’d be interesting to know.

Busy Times for Berks Dormice

Photo

©Rob Strachan WildCRU

 

Happy New Year Everyone!!

The dormouse is a small, nocturnal mammal weighing in at 30g. For a large part of the year (6 months or more), they hibernate in nests on or under the ground. Dormice spend most of their active time high off the ground in tree canopies and not just in hazel woods, they have been found in pine-dominated commercial forests and in people’s greenhouses and allotments!

Dormouse numbers are estimated to have halved in the last 100 years, with the majority of remaining populations occurring in southern England. The main reasons for this decline appear to be linked to the loss and fragmentation of ancient woodlands, reduction in woodland management practices and, more recently, climate change. Berkshire is just on the edge of this range with what appears to be a correlated lowering of numbers.

My name is Amanda Lloyd, I am a mammal ecologist and will be leading and organising the dormouse surveys in the coming months. Currently we have 4 sites with dormouse boxes in place, one site was checked in November for dormice and 3 nests were found in the boxes, which is great news and I am looking forward to finding the actual animal (maybe more than one!) in question in spring. 

 

This year the dormouse surveys (as part of the National DormouseMonitoring Programme) will truly commence but first we need to ascertain the state the boxes are in and repair any old un-useable ones. Thanks to membership fees we have been able to purchase 50 new shiny boxes that will be used to replace any old and worn-out boxes.

 Some of our new boxes

Photo: Amanda Lloyd

So as you can see busy times ahead and any help whether that be in the form of providing dormouse sightings or actively volunteering your time with box checks or “nut-hunts” is all appreciated and a nice way to spend a day out in the countryside! If you do want to get involved please email: dormice.bmg@gmail.com
 

Photo

©Rob Strachan WildCRU