Wake up to dormice

THE dormouse has a stronghold in the county. The Herefordshire Action for Mammals (HAM) group is surveying the Malvern Hills this summer and, by the end of October, will have gained a good idea of the numbers of dormice in the area. The idea is to select the best available habitat and instal special tubes in which dormice are likely to build nests.

HAM says that using tubes is an easy and the least disturbing method to check for presence of these sleepy mammals and that regular surveys are necessary to be able to monitor population fluctuations over a number of years and identify if the species decline is continuing.

The dormouse is a nocturnal creature, found in ancient deciduous woodland and overgrown hedgerows.

It spends most of its time climbing among tree branches in search of food and rarely comes to the ground. It feeds on flowers, pollen, fruits, insects and nuts and during the day it sleeps in a nest, often in a hollow tree branch or a deserted bird nest - or even a specially constructed nestbox.

It hibernates through winter, becoming active again in April or May. Thus dormice may spend three-quarters of their year asleep - hence the sleepy dormouse featured in Lewis Carroll's Adventures of Alice in Wonderland - and can live up to five years in the wild, much longer than other comparable small mammals such as the wood mouse.

Being nocturnal - small and secretive too - it's unlikely you will see one except by accident. The best way to find out if they are in your area is to look for signs of their presence such as food remains and nests, which they build from shredded honeysuckle bark woven into a ball and often surround with layers of leaves.

Dormice are strictly protected by law and anyone who handles them must have training and a special licence. To help protect them they have their own Biodiversity Action Plan, which is a detailed plan for the protection of the mammal. They are considered to be nationally and locally important in the UK, and although not endangered, they are classified as near threatened and close to qualifying as vulnerable under the IUCN Red List of threatened species. The Herefordshire survey is part of the ongoing National Dormouse Monitoring Scheme, which is run by the People's Trust for Endangered Species (PTES).

Previous surveys have already shown that dormice have declined in Britain. In 2001 the population was estimated at about 500,000 while the National Dormouse Monitoring Programme has recorded that populations in northern England declined by 40% between 1993 and 2000.

Loss and fragmentation of ancient woodlands, climatic difficulties and decline of coppicing are all probablyconnected with the fall and while reintroducting dormice are often suggested, such endeavours require appropriate woodland habitat.

They need several different trees and shrubs to provide food throughout the summer. Coppice management of woodlands can create such conditions but cleared areas and wide roads may interfere with the movements of dormice, because the animals live almost exclusively in the trees. There are ways to encourage them to colonise new areas ; the Department for Food and Rural Affairs encourages landowners to provide thick, species rich hedgerows between patches of woodland.

The dormice use these corridors to move to new areas of habitat, which will enable the population in Herefordshire to increase.

Landowners can apply for funding to help them enhance their hedgerows and encourage dormice and other wildlife under the Higher Level Stewardship scheme.

For more information contact the local Farming and Wildlife Advisory Group (FWAG) through its web site www.fwag.org.uk or on 01544 318 716.

If you are interested in getting involved with the dormouse survey or any of the other mammal work which HAM or Herefordshire Nature Trust undertake, contact Hilary Smith at HAM on 01432 357732 or Sue Holland at the Trust on 01432 356872.