July 2015 Mammal of the Month - The Fox

Photo Credit: Becky Thomas

This month’s mammal is the fox! 

Familiar to all of us, this carnivore is widespread in both urban and rural areas. July is an ideal time to spot the species as this year's cubs are now out of their dens. We would love to see any photos you have of them and of course, please don't forget to enter your sightings for our records here.

Our top five foxy facts are:

1. Foxes are found all across Britain except for all of the Scottish Islands other than Skye
   
   
2. Most only live for 1 to 3 years in the wild although some have been known to reach age 9.
   
   
3. They hold family territories that can vary from 0.2 all the way up 40 square kilometres depending upon the type of habitat
   
   
4. Their tails get thicker and bushier in the winter
   
   
5. Adults weigh between 5 and 7 kg.

The national Mammal Society's factsheet has more details here

June 2015 Mammal of the Month - The Grey Squirrel

Photo Credit - Becky Thomas

Somehow we’ve reached June already so it’s time for a new mammal of the month for you all to spot in the long evenings. This month it’s the grey squirrel. Not everyone's favourite squirrel in the UK but in suburban and urban areas probably the wild mammal that you'll most often see.

Our top five grey squirrel facts are:

1. They originally come from the USA and were introduced into the UK over many years from the 1870s through to the late 1920s.
2. Their tails can be as long as the rest of their bodies (tails up to 24 cm, body length 24-28.5 cm)
3. Their nests are called dreys and they often use twigs that they cut straight from the tree with leaves still on (birds use dead twigs).
4. Females can have two litters a year, in spring and again in the summer, with 3 or 4 young in each litter.
5. As they are not a native species and are often considered a pest it is illegal to release one back into the wild in the UK without a special exemption certificate (some wildlife rehabilitation centres have these).

 Find out more with the national Mammal Society’s fact sheet for the species 
.

Photo Credit - Damian Carter

Please record all of your grey squirrel sightings for us at our recording page – we have surprisingly few squirrel records considering how many are around. Don’t forget that we also welcome records of all wild mammals all year round so please don’t restrict yourselves to the Mammal of the Month!

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

May 2015 Mammal of the Month - The Hazel Dormouse

Hazel Dormouse - Photo credit: Becky Thomas

Happy May Day!

We’re pleased to announce that our Mammal of the Month for May is the hazel dormouse. They are just coming out of hibernation at this time of year so it is the perfect time to welcome the species as our Mammal of the Month.

Our top five dormice facts are:

1. As well as hibernating over the winter, dormice can also go into a state called torpor in poor weather to save energy. Their body temperature becomes lower and they appear to be in a deep sleep
2. Dormice rarely come to the ground, instead using tree and shrub branches to move around
3. Females usually have one litter of about four young and the young stay with their mother for up to 8 weeks.
4. In the UK, dormice are mostly found in southern England with some in Wales. It is rare to find populations north of the Midlands.
5. There are surprisingly few dormouse records for Berkshire but we are hoping that our nest box sites may provide more during this year’s checks.

Find out lots more about dormice via the Mammal Society's webpage for the species where you can also download a species factsheet

Dormouse records are hard to come by but do let us know if you spot any when you're out and about and please record sightings or signs of any mammal here

April 2015 Mammal of the Month - The Badger

Photo credit: Matt Collis

 

Our April mammal of the month is the badger. The species we have in the UK is the European badger (scientific name Meles meles). It will be familiar to many of us from children's stories and lots of other sources but how many of you have seen one live in the wild? If you do spot one, please record it for us here. Any road-kill victims can also be entered as a record although of course we hope not to have many of those. Any other mammal records can be entered via the same page too.

Our top five badger facts are:

• They weigh around 8-9 kg in the spring but go up to about 11 to 12 kg in the autumn
• Social groups usually contain about 6 adults but groups of over 20 have been recorded
• Cubs are born bald and blind within the sett, usually in February, and do not emerge above ground for around 2 months (so look out soon!).
• They mark the edge of their territories with latrines - shallow pits in which they defecate
• The territory around a set is usually around 30 ha but can be up to 150 ha.

For more details, check out the very informative Mammal Society fact sheet on the species, including pictures of their tracks and signs.

If you are lucky enough to take a photo of a badger or have any that you've already taken, we'd love to see them - please share!

Short-eared Owls love Field Voles!

   

Short-eared Owl - Ian Paterson [CC BY-SA 2.0 (http://creativecommons.org/licenses/by-sa/2.0)], via Wikimedia Commons

Short-eared Owls seem to be regular winter visitors to the Ridgeway in West Berkshire and so I decided to take a short trip to see them. Arriving an hour or so before sunset, it didn't take long to see several hunting along the long grass and scrub. They perched frequently on the fences and posts, so I thought I would check to see if there were any pellets. I did in fact find one, but later lost it!

At the recent Berkshire Mammal Group AGM and very interesting talk from PC Ian Whitlock on Wildlife Crime, I saw there were copies of the FSC/HOT Guide to British owls and owl pellets available and thinking I'd later try pellet dissection, I bought one.

Short-eared Owl pellets

Another trip to the Ridgeway one lunchtime produced 7 pellets in a short time. They were fairly easy to find under the wooden fences and near marker posts, though there were not huge piles in any one place. I already knew these were Short-eared owl pellets from the location and they were smooth and grey exactly as described in the guide. They were also light, containing lots of fur.

Although I suspected that most of the prey would be rodents, I wasn't sure which bones I'd find in the pellets. I realised that as the owls swallow small mammals whole, all the parts of the prey that are not digested (fur and bones) must be regurgitated at some point.

Soaking the pellets in water with a little disinfectant loosened them up. It was surprising that despite being light, they are highly compact and takes a little time with the tweezers to separate out the bones. Another slight surprise was the appearance of the leg bones. They were small but sturdy looking with clear ball and knee joints. The human resemblance made me feel sympathy for the prey.

   

Field vole upper teeth - zig-zag with 3 lobes on inner middle tooth

The first pellet contained not one, but at least two prey items. The lower jaw molars showed that these were voles, but closer inspection was needed to decide between Field vole and Bank vole. Fortunately, I had a magnifying lamp, and a macro lens for the camera and this was not too difficult. There are three molars on each side. They form a sharp zig-zag with three lobes on the inner part of the middle tooth. This makes this a skull from a Field vole. The second (larger) pellet contained no less than 4 Field vole skulls!

One pellet contained some remains of a Wood mouse as well as a Field vole. The lower jaw of the Wood mouse is a different shape to that of the Field vole, and on removing the teeth, you can see 6 root holes.

Wood mouse jaws (top left), bird wishbone and leg-bone (bottom left), Field vole bones (right 3 columns)

   

Wood mouse lower jaw with 6 root holes

A further pellet contained remains of a medium-sized bird. I won't try to guess the species, but I suspect it was at least as big as a thrush. This pellet was far more unpleasantly “mushy” - perhaps feathers break down in the owl's gizzard unlike mammal fur?.

Overall, in the 7 pellets there were at least 11 Field voles, 1 Wood mouse and 1 bird. There was quite some size variation in the Field vole bones, as well as in their teeth.

The habitat from which I collected the pellets was rough grassland with scrub but few trees, so perhaps this is no surprise. This is also consistent with published papers of Short-eared Owl diet; Field voles forming the vast majority of Short-eared owl prey, with Wood mice, Rats and various birds making up most of the rest.

If you are lucky enough to see a Short-eared owl hunting, it's a fair bet that there are plenty of Field voles around!

Rob Davies

March 2015 Mammal of the Month - The Brown Hare

Our mammal of the month for March, is the 'Mad March' hare. Brown hares are present across most of the country in lowland areas and our records for Berkshire are all in the west of the county to date (west of Bradfield) so it would be great to get some from elsewhere - see if you can spot this speedy character when walking on farm or grassland. Please record any sightings for us here.

 

Our top five hare facts are:

 

* They can run fast - up to 45 miles per hour!

 

* They have longer ears than rabbits, with black tips

 

* Unlike rabbits, they don't burrow. Instead they make small depressions called forms.

 

* Young hares are called leverets

 

* Females can have up to four litters every year.

 

The Mammal Society factsheet has more details: