News

Using dormouse records sent in to the  National Dormouse Monitoring Programme, we’ve been creating a map showing suitable habitat for hazel dormice projected across England. We can then use this map to help work out the best places to release dormice or to identify areas where dormice are most likely to be found. Developing a …

Hazel dormice class licence CL10a, CL10b survey returns are due to be sent to Natural England from 4th January 2022. This year Natural England is introducing two changes which include new online forms and a £35 charge for continued registration (with exemptions for voluntary use for NDMP monitors). New online forms In October, Natural England introduced …

Coppicing is a widespread and traditional form of woodland management where trees or shrubs are repeatedly cut at the base, creating a coppice stool, and allowed to regrow, in order to provide a sustainable supply of wood. Layers of a wood If you think of a wood as having different vertical zones, at the bottom would …

This is a long read summarising my findings from five years studying mountain hares in the Peak District in the context of our changing climate. It’s a sobering thought that our changing climate is already impacting our mountain hares: super furry, white animals that are only found in the high hills of the Peaks and …

Our intern Claudia Afeltra is helping our cetaceans off the coast of Wales by putting together information about all individuals that have been spotted and photographed. Sometimes animals are seen enough to learn their stories. Claudia was excited to share the story of one of her dolphins, Tigger, who her team thought had died. Tigger …

The Rt Hon. Boris Johnson MP10 Downing StreetLondonSW1A 2AA 27 October 2021 Dear Prime Minister                                                                                                               Donors call for greater commitments for locally-led nature conservation to reverse biodiversity loss, mitigate climate change, and increase human wellbeing Restoring our relationship with the natural world is critical for humanity’s future. The …

In the first half of this two-part blog on photographing urban mammals, we looked at the technical aspects of photography and how to use camera settings, composition and light to your advantage. This second half focuses on the animal itself and what you need to think about when planning a shot. Read part one here. …

We are blessed with a huge array of mammals in the UK, from small rodents and bats to large badgers and deer and many of these can be found in urban environments. During the travel restrictions of the last year and a half I’ve explored my local area more and I have been surprised and …

Windsor Safari Park Hazel dormice have always been secretive creatures. Not much was known about them until Dr Pat Morris and Dr Paul Bright began studying the species in the wild to learn more about their habits. It quickly became clear that the species wasn’t doing well. As part of wider conservation plans, a new …

The woodland home Hazel dormice are well-known for their sleepy habits and are always on the look out for somewhere to snooze. We put wooden nest boxes in woodlands where they live which provides extra places for them to take a nap, as well as a useful way for us to count them regularly and …

Last summer we put out our Fingle Woods CCTV wildlife camera kits once again, to learn more about our hazel dormice. Last time we set them up, in 2018, we detected some fascinating behaviour that wouldn’t have been possible to observe using standard nest monitoring methods. We saw dormice spend time grooming their coats and …

Negative records are important Finding hazel dormice isn’t easy. And it’s even more difficult to prove that they’re absent from a particular patch. But dormice are protected in law. So, when new houses are built or roads expanded, the developers must ensure that any hedges, shrubby habitat or woodlands that are likely to be disturbed …