Dormouse Delight
Three of us were lucky enough to go on a Dormouse Ecology course this month, held in Cheddar by the Mammal Society. Dormice are European Protected Species, due to their sadly diminishing numbers, and it is illegal to handle them or check their nestboxes without a licence (renewed annually).
Once they come out of hibernation in May, dormice look for places to use as daytime rest areas, as they’re nocturnal creatures, and also to start building their summer nests in. We were taken up to Cheddar Gorge to see a survey area where 50 nestboxes have been provided. After a few false starts (other creatures such as Wood Mice or small birds are partial to nesting in the boxes too!), we were lucky enough to find 3 occupied boxes. One of the cute critters is shown here – undoubtedly a huge ‘ahhh’ factor involved!
Three of us were lucky enough to go on a Dormouse Ecology course this month, held in Cheddar by the Mammal Society. Dormice are European Protected Species, due to their sadly diminishing numbers, and it is illegal to handle them or check their nestboxes without a licence (renewed annually).
Once they come out of hibernation in May, dormice look for places to use as daytime rest areas, as they’re nocturnal creatures, and also to start building their summer nests in. We were taken up to Cheddar Gorge to see a survey area where 50 nestboxes have been provided. After a few false starts (other creatures such as Wood Mice or small birds are partial to nesting in the boxes too!), we were lucky enough to find 3 occupied boxes. One of the cute critters is shown here – undoubtedly a huge ‘ahhh’ factor involved!
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May 29th, 2008 at 1:09 pm
ahhh!