Dormice

There have been times this spring when it seemed not much was going on. One day blended into another and lockdown began to feel like a period of torpor or, perhaps even, hibernation. For the greater good, many of us had our movements restricted, and our favourite spots felt quite distant. As one of the …

Hibernation strategy There are three main strategies that animals use to help them get through the winter months. They migrate and move away from harsh weather; they adapt by growing thicker fur and storing food, or they hibernate. Hibernation is often referred to as a ‘sleep’ but it’s a very special type of sleep. The …

In the fields and forests of Bulgaria, Nedko Nedyalkov and his team have been avidly looking for evidence of Roach’s mouse-tailed dormouse over the past year. This mouse-tailed dormouse is one of the Europe’s rarest mammal species and is only found in the border area of Bulgaria, Turkey and Greece. For forty years there had …

What is the ‘Wildlife Assessment Check’ tool? Whether a development site is in a rural or urban area, it’s vital that wildlife and habitat value are considered to avoid habitat loss, fragmentation and the damaging impact of daily human activity on the land. Development sites can put pressure on the biodiversity of a particular habitat, …

Wildlife charity People’s Trust for Endangered Species (PTES), Warwickshire Wildlife Trust and partners, are today [Tuesday 20 June] releasing 19 breeding pairs of rare hazel dormice (Muscardinus avellanarius) into an undisclosed woodland location in Warwickshire, near Royal Leamington Spa, in an attempt to stem the decline of this endangered species. With their soft caramel fur, …

The UK’s first ever black dormouse has been discovered in the Blackdown Hills by National Dormouse Monitoring Programme (NDMP) volunteers. One of Britain’s most threatened mammals, the hazel dormouse (Muscardinus avellanarius) is typically a golden brown colour. In the 1970s, researchers chanced upon a black dormouse in Germany and recently a few more examples were found …

Wildlife charity People’s Trust for Endangered Species (PTES) and the Yorkshire Dales National Park Authority are today [Thursday 23 June] releasing 38 rare hazel dormice (Muscardinus avellanarius) into an undisclosed woodland location near Aysgarth in the National Park in an attempt to stem the decline of the species. Once a familiar sight throughout much of …

UK conservation charity People’s Trust for Endangered Species (PTES) has been working in partnership with HMP Doncaster and HMP Humber in order help wider conservation efforts to save the rare hazel dormouse, whose population numbers have fallen dramatically over the last century. Since 2010, men at both prison sites have built 10,963 dormouse nest boxes …

Infrared video footage of rare hazel dormice (Muscardinus avellanarius) in the wild has been captured at a nature reserve on the Isle of Wight. The People’s Trust for Endangered Species (PTES) footage is significant because it shows dormice on a special bridge designed to help this tree-dwelling species cross barriers created by humans in the …