Britain’s lovely native hazel dormice are in big trouble with their population having fallen by 70% since 2000. They are seriously endangered and we want to do what we can to help by managing our wood with dormice in mind. Together with a neighbour, our woods have also been part of the National Dormouse Monitoring Programme for the last two years.
Box number 10 up in a hazel coppice at the woodland margin. This is a popular box with a brood of dormice raised in it last year, followed by a pygmy shrew taking up residence afterwards. This week we found a torpid dormouse in box 10
As part of this national programme, there are fifty dormouse nest boxes placed in a grid formation through the woods which are monitored every month from April to November. This week we carried out the first tour of the year around the thirty boxes that are in our wood.
Getting box 10 off the tree to open it within that large and sturdy plastic bag, after I had first peeped in and seen that it had a dormouse inside. The hole in the box is stuffed with a duster to keep the dormouse in, although in this case it was in torpor and wasn’t going anywhere. We are still wearing masks when we are monitoring the boxes because of the worry that dormice could catch covid from us humans
It was a sunny spring morning and the temperature was 14 degrees as we started out. Even though they are no longer hibernating, dormice have the ability to go into torpor. This is a hibernation-like state where their body temperature and metabolism are lowered to conserve energy at times when the weather is bad or cold or if there is not much food about. Although they can go into torpor frequently in the springtime, it is something that I had never seen before.
But on this tour we found four dormice and they were all torpid:
There were two torpid dormice in box 22 which was one of the boxes we replaced over the winter. They hadn’t made a nest, other than bringing in a few token hazel leavesThe dormice of box 22 from another angle. The torpid dormouse we found in box 6 was in a similarly empty boxHowever, in box 10, the dormouse was on the moss of a half-built bird’s nest which looks much cosier
It is always difficult to get a photo of an active dormouse and I often come away from a monitoring tour just with photos of them through the plastic of their weighing bags. But, although it is important to process these torpid dormice swiftly and get them safely back onto the tree before they wake up, we did take the opportunity to snap a few quick photos of them. Oh my goodness they are so sweet:
This next photo shows the distinctive sole of a dormouse foot with its triangular pads:
A dormouse’s very recognisable footprint means that footprint tunnels can be an alternative way of surveying for dormice presence or likely absence that doesn’t need a disturbance licence
As well as the three boxes containing dormice, fourteen boxes had complete bird nests in them. These are most probably all blue tit nests since the hole into the box is so small, but it was interesting to see the variation between them. Wrens can also get into the boxes but their nests are not the same – they fill the box with nesting material.
A lot of white feathers have been sourced for a soft lining to this nestDried grasses very prominent in this oneThe woodcock who spend the winter in the wood have all departed now, but their legacy lives on with the orange woodcock feather incorporated into this nestThis nest was lined with soft rabbit fur instead of feathers. The bird must have found a carcass somewhereThis was the only box in which eggs had already been laid. At first I thought there was only one egg in there….…but then I realised that the bird had pulled some feathers over the clutch to hide them before she left the nest. I covered the eggs again before I closed the box back up
The leisurely tour round the thirty boxes took us two and a half hours, including a stop for a cup of peppermint tea and cake midway. It was really lovely to spend quiet time in the wood and we noticed some other interesting things as we went along:
There is a fabulous carpet of bluebells in one of the neighbouring woodsIt takes a long tongue to reach down into a bluebell flower and get to its nectar. Here, a brimstone butterfly demonstrates that it is up to the taskOur wood doesn’t have many bluebells but it does very well with primrosesOur common twayblades, a type of orchid, are up and just coming into flowerWe spotted a little nest at the base of a tree that is heavily encased in ivyI don’t know what bird will have made this nest but I will keep a discrete eye on it over the next few visits. I wouldn’t want to call the attention of predators to it thoughThis nationally scarce beetle was sheltering in one of the dormouse boxes. It is Oedemera femoralis, a nocturnal beetle which feeds on the pollen and nectar of ivy and willow and only the males have those big thighs. In fact it is a rather dowdy cousin of the swollen-thighed beetle, Oedemara nobilis, seen below The swollen-thighed beetle, Oedemera nobilis, loves the flowers of the meadows by day. Photo from June 2020We also found a glow worm larva in the woodI have never seen a fourteen-spot ladybird before. It is quite distinctive because its spots are square and often fused together to form what is described as an anchor shape, but my eyes tell me I’m looking at a grinning panda
The trail cameras in the wood have provided these photos this week:
Bullfinch have arrived back in the wood to breedThis trail camera did very well to capture the in-flight skirmish between a robin and chaffinchBlackbird collecting material for her nestJays also breed somewhere in the larger wooded area each summerI would love to know where the tawnies are nesting this yearTaking a bathThe camera looking at a hole in a cherry tree has seen a lot of great spotted woodpecker activity..…including going in and out of the holeBut green woodpeckers have also been interested
Across in the meadows it is normal for us to be visited by a pair of mallards in the spring who come to the ponds for rest and recreation whilst the energy-demanding egg-laying process is ongoing. But the only mallard sighting this year has been this single male who called by one afternoon this week:
I expect his mate is now incubating their eggs
It is a rare sight to see jackdaws in the meadows:
I am looking forward to butterfly season. So far I have just seen the ones that hibernate as adults:
Red Admiral in the garden
It has been a very blustery week here, which is frustrating for those of us that want to be out invertebrate-spotting. However, whatever the wind is up to, it is now mid April and the days are getting inexorably longer. I always know summer is on its way when I start seeing badgers out and about before it gets completely dark:
I have seen further evidence this week that the female badger is feeding cubs underground and I am impatient to see them – surely it can’t be long now.
That would be amazing! I assume they are no longer in torpor then and so might not be in the boxes?
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What a wonderful post! All that wildlife too. I’ve got a couple of cameras set up in the back garden which have so far captured footage of hedgehogs, a fox, garden birds, and, of course, a neighbour’s cat.
A particularly sweet post this time <3 love these dormice, definitely worth the work of getting your license!
We can try to work it so that you can accompany me on one of the tours round the boxes if you are visiting in summertime!
That would be amazing! I assume they are no longer in torpor then and so might not be in the boxes?
What a wonderful post! All that wildlife too. I’ve got a couple of cameras set up in the back garden which have so far captured footage of hedgehogs, a fox, garden birds, and, of course, a neighbour’s cat.
I am very envious of your hedgehogs – we don’t get them here unfortunately. That feels all wrong.