Declining dormice coaxed back by woodland volunteers
THESE images of rare hazel dormice have been captured by the Daily Express at a secret location where volunteers are helping the at-risk species to thrive again.
Populations of this elusive native mammal have plummeted by an alarming 70% since 2000.
Once a common sight in Britain, the nocturnal, tree-dwelling mice are now extinct in 20 English counties – recently vanishing from Hertfordshire, Staffordshire and Northumberland.
But conservationists are trying to help repopulate them in a small woodland colony at a secret location in Conwy, North Wales.
Habitat
There our photographer Andrew Price captured these incredible shots after being issued an invitation to see the rare mice in their natural habitat.
The conservation project, which began in 2005, involves volunteers from North Wales Wildlife Trust and Natural Resources Wales erecting nest boxes and carefully monitoring the tiny mammals.
In 2021, 19 dormice were recorded in the Conwy forest, but last year that number dropped to just 11. However, this year is more promising, with 17 found in the area by the volunteers.
Four times a year – in May, June, September and October – the volunteers carefully bag and capture the dormice, chip and weigh them then release them back into the wild. This helps conservationists better understand why the mice are so threatened, and devise strategies to protect them in the future.
Rhian Hughes, director of ecology with the North Wales Wildlife Trust, said they were managing to keep the number of dormice at a “pretty consistent” level. She added: “I never get fed up of opening the boxes, even if I have been bitten! They really are very, very charismatic little creatures.”
Dormice are no more than two inches in length and renowned for their long fluffy tails. Their name derives from the French “dormir”, meaning to sleep, as they hibernate for six months of the year.
Last November a major report warned they were in “catastrophic decline” in the UK, down 70% since the turn of the century.
The Peoples’ Trust for Endangered Species blamed habitat destruction and poor management of Britain’s woodlands and hedgerows, as well as a changing climate. Milder winters prompt dormice to come out of hibernation too early when there is no food, causing them to starve, Between 40 and 70% of dormice die during the hibernation period.
The PTES are calling for them to be re-classified from “vulnerable” to “endangered”. Rhian backed this call, saying: “I would agree that they should be classed as endangered because the numbers overall are so low.”
The key factor in their decline is the loss of the scrubby understorey in woodlands where the dormice live and feed in spring and summer, but the problem has been compounded by climate change.
Ian White, a dormouse officer at PTES, said: “Now winters are becoming more mild and variable, there’s a danger that dormice will wake up and they can only do that so many times before they run out of energy. Wetter springs and summers also stop dormice feeding because their fur isn’t waterproof.
“They only produce on average four young per year – they don’t have the breeding potential of mice and rats. If the decline continues at the same rate, in another 30 years dormouse populations will have fallen by 94% since 2000, which we can’t let happen.”
Released
Since 1993 more than 1,112 hazel dormice have been released into 25 woodlands in 13 counties across the UK. This has ensured dormice are now present in six English counties, mostly in the Midlands and the North, from which they were previously lost.
Volunteers have been helping the PTES and other charity partners by regularly checking hundreds of nest boxes in woodlands across the country since 1990.
Meanwhile large-scale landscape projects to restore and connect prime dormouse habitats have been implemented in Warwickshire and North Wales, while hedgerow planting – offering safe passage and nesting sites between woodlands – has taken place in Yorkshire and Hampshire.