photo © www.mikeread.co.uk

In today’s countryside, two of the principal problems our native wildlife face are lack of habitat, in terms of availability of food and lack of suitable nest sites. For example, most of the mature trees in the woods surrounding our farm were taken out for timber during the Second World War. There is therefore a lack of suitable nesting sites for hole nesting birds such as owls.

With hazel the branches, or spars as they are known, can then be used for making hurdles or furniture. A Coppice is an area which has been treated in this way.

We know from collecting discarded hazelnuts shells and checking the shape of and marks around the entry hole, that we already have dormice in the wood.

Hazelnuts opened by :

Woodmouse			Dormouse
Squirrel			Bank Vole

artist : Meirel Whaites

To improve the habitat for the dormice (as well as for other wildlife) and their chances of breeding successfully, we are carrying out the following programme of work;

Firstly, in order to ensure a good, continuous, supply of food, the old woodland needs to be actively managed. We are coppicing a section of the wood every winter, so that an interlinked patchwork quilt of growth of differing ages is created.

We need to put specifically designed dormouse nest boxes into the wood to ensure that there are adequate suitable nesting sites. Experts recommend that nest boxes are spread across the wood in groups of 50, randomly scattered over a small area. At best, only perhaps two of each group of 50 would be used in any one year. The belief however is that, with a group of 50, there is the maximum likelihood that a wandering dormouse would find one of them. This project has involved considerable cost.

Progress reports and results are being posted on the Conservation Project Report page of the website.

If you would like to sponsor the further phases of this worthwhile conservation project, please telephone us on 01398 351506.