This month, the footprint tunnel research was curtailed by the prolonged wet weather.
The wet conditions had two adverse effects: it made it treacherous for surveyors to venture onto the steep terrain and it promoted mould growth on the paper in the tunnels, making the footprints indecipherable.
When we were able to check the tunnels we were intrigued to find some contained nest material.
We managed to complete the normal nest box checks but found none occupied by dormice – though some were occupied by wood mice.
Still, we found plenty of other interesting wildlife, including this fine specimen of a Clouded Border moth.
And we were pleased to see the effect of our coppicing work.
The growth of herbaceous plants has exploded in the area we coppiced two years ago.
It has become practically impenetrable to human surveyors and provides good cover for small animals.
This should improve the structure of the wood for the benefit of dormice.
At the Cheshire site, we undertook a short survey in May of around one-quarter of the nest boxes.
There was a lot of wildlife making use of the boxes (blue tit chicks, brown long-eared bats, bees, wood mice…) but unfortunately no dormice yet.
There is still time – it is still quite early in the dormouse season and we will be doing another survey at the end of June.
So, look out for a blog post after that!
There are now around 40 footprint tunnels distributed in the woodland. We are getting many small mammal visitors to the tunnels, but again, there is still no sign of dormice.
Droppings found in the tunnels during the weekly checks are being collected for future diet analysis.
There are some tunnels placed in nearby woods as well, in case there has been any dispersal out from the original reintroduction site.
Now we have many tunnels to check every week, we are looking for volunteers!
We will be undertaking visits every Wednesday in June and July (as well as other dates later on in the year). If you are interested in helping out or would like to find out more, please use the contact form on this website.
Due to the recent nasty weather, yesterday was the first time in a few weeks that we’ve been able to get back into the woods to check Cheshire’s footprint tunnels. We also placed some more in the original release wood and a nearby location, in the hope that the dormice have dispersed. The plan is to get them all out by the end of April (up to 100 tunnels), hopefully before the dormice become active.
Of the original 12 tunnels, 9 had been visited by Apodemus species – yellow-necked or wood mice. This was great news, that despite all the wind and rain, the footprint tunnels were secure and still collected some results. As mentioned before, it is currently not possible to distinguish between the two. Fortunately, hazel dormice have distinct footprint patterns, meaning we will be able to identify their current locations within the woods or hedgerows within the coming months.
At this time of year, the dormice are hibernating and not using the nest-boxes. So we take the opportunity to clean them out and repair them.
Monday turned out to be exceptional because it hit the highest ever recorded winter temperature: 20 degrees Celsius. It felt like mid-summer.
The woodland floor was green with fresh growth, setting off the prolific jewel-like Scarlet Elf Cap fungi.
We carried out our tasks as two groups. One group replaced posts and boxes across the site, where the need had previously been identified, while other group worked methodically through all the boxes in sequence, cleaning them out and affecting minor repairs.
Winter nest-box checking
Newly installed nest-box
We found no dormice, of course, but some boxes contained squatters, like these woodmice.
The heat of the day was draining. By the end, we craved cooling ice-cream and headed off in search of the nearest supplier in Ruthin.
In the last post, Kevin introduced me and the footprint tunnels that we will be trialling in Cheshire this year.
In this post, I will tell you a bit more about my project, as well as the footprint tunnels themselves.
My PhD project focuses on Cheshire’s reintroduced dormouse population. I am primarily aiming to discover why the number of dormice being recorded in the nest boxes has reduced dramatically in the last few years. There are various factors that may be responsible, such as competition with other small mammals, lack of suitable habitat, migration to nearby woodlands, lack of food or the dormice may be choosing to nest in the canopy. Identifying the specific requirements of Cheshire’s dormice will help plan for efficient habitat management to support the remaining animals, as well as plan for future reintroductions in Cheshire and elsewhere.
As mentioned previously, the footprint tunnels will
hopefully show us where the remaining Cheshire dormice are living, which will help
direct future research to answer these questions. Being much cheaper than nest boxes, many
tunnels can be placed into the woodland.
This, along with not requiring direct observations of dormice, means the
tunnels are able to pick up evidence of dormice, even when they may be in small
numbers.
A couple of weeks ago, the first five were put into the woodland to test for efficacy and weather resistance. These are the ones you can see in the previous post. Though we don’t expect to pick up evidence of dormice until May, this will help to identify any issues before the dormice appear.
A week later, I went back to check up on the tunnels… and there had already been a visitor – as you can see in the photo! It was either a wood mouse or yellow-necked mouse, though it is not possible to identify between them.
At the beginning of this week, I was kindly helped by some volunteers at Cheshire Wildlife Trust to make over 70 more footprint tunnels, which I will be putting out into the woodland gradually over the coming weeks.
Making footprint tunnels
Footprint tunnels ready to go
I look forward to updating you as my project progresses and
I hope to be able to report dormouse footprints in the next few months!
North West Dormouse Partnership 