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On the search for dormice

Dormouse by Bev Lewis

Jake joins our licensed dormouse survey team...

As I have mentioned in previous blogs there are plenty of opportunities to get involved with surveys and monitoring during our traineeship; such opportunity came recently when I had the chance to help out with a dormouse survey at Monkwood nature reserve.

In the UK the hazel dormouse is classified as 'vulnerable'. They are mainly distributed in the southern counties of England and prefer deciduous woodland, although they can be found in coniferous and mixed woodland too. Dormice eat a wide range of foods including leaves, flowers, pollen, nuts, fruits and insects; it is said that the presence of dormice correlates to a healthy woodland ecosystem.

Dormice hibernate through the winter and they don’t normally become active until late April and May. Our survey occurred in April so we knew that our probability of seeing any dormice were slim (they hibernate at ground level rather than in boxes, which is why it's important to keep dogs on leads all year round when visiting our nature reserves). There was a chance, however, as the recent cold nights meant that it wasn’t out of the question for a dormouse to become torpid (a.k.a. go into ‘sleepy mode’) to conserve body weight – an important process for an animal of this size in cold weather – and they would need to find shelter safe from predators in order to to do this.

Wooden nest box for a dormouse attached to a tree in a woodland by Amy Fleming

Dormouse nest box by Amy Fleming

The objectives of the day were to check dormouse nesting boxes in certain sections of Monkwood and then to fit some new nest boxes in an area of the wood where the habitat was now becoming suitable (dormice are arboreal specialists that prefer not to spend time on the forest floor so shrubby areas with plenty of food are best for the nest boxes.)

We started checking the nest boxes in pairs to cover more distance. The procedure is to approach a nest box quietly, picking your route of least disturbance to whatever could be in the box. You then cover the entry hole to the nest box with some fabric, untie the lid and slide it back to reveal a small portion of the box - enough so that you can see what’s inside. If the box is empty you simple slide the lid back over, tie the lid shut and retrieve the fabric before moving onto the next box.

Around 80% of the boxes had bird nests in them! In these cases, we carefully and quickly put the lid back on, collected the fabric and backed away from the box to reduce disturbance to the nest.

We didn’t find any dormice on this occasion, which wasn’t a huge surprise. If we had found dormice, we would have placed the nest box in a plastic bag and sexed and weighed the individuals, recording their data as we went along.   

After we had checked the boxes we set about introducing new nest boxes into an area of the wood. We again set out in pairs and placed them out in number order (the boxes were numbered and this shows where they should be placed in the wood). The nest boxes are secured to trees (usually hazel) at about chest height using a flexible wire that goes around the box and tree. You then place a lid on the box to secure it and move to the next location. We managed to fit around 30 new nest boxes on that day!

Although we didn’t see any dormice it was still a great day and a fantastic insight on the conservation and monitoring of this animal. I’m looking forward to the next chance I get to come out and help the team…and fingers crossed we get a dormouse this time!

 

Jake Goodwin is studying towards a degree in Environmental Science whilst undertaking his one year trainee placement with the Trust. Having already volunteered for Leicestershire and Rutland Wildlife Trust, he's keen to learn more about managing habitats for wildlife.

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