Life's no tea party!
Survival of the rare - and irresistibly
cute - dormouse depends not only on
halting destruction of woodland
habitats but on actively managing them
in the right way, as Gary Pilkington
explains.
I would imagine that the only contact
you've ever had with one of Bntain's
rarest mammals is through reading
Alice in Wonderland: "The dormouse is
asleep again." says the Mad Hatter at
the infamous tea party. and he pours a
little hot tea upon its nose.
Any child reading this tale in the mid -
19th century would have been very
familiar with. and probably quite
knowledgeable about. the dormouse. At
that time. with more suitable habitat
existing than at present. it would have
been a common animal in the
countryside and many were kept as pets
by those children whose fathers, for
example. worked in the local woodlands
and who had happened to have
disturbed one whilst hedge laying or
coppicing. Unfortunately. here at the
end of the 20th century. the dormouse is
so rare that it has been afforded
protection by the Government. In 1992
English Nature added the dormouse to
its "Species Recovery Programme" in
order to make the public and owners of
woodland more aware of the threats to
this our most attractive small mammal.
The dormouse's name comes from the
French (dormir to sleep) and it is
recognised by its thick, furry tail. large
black eyes and sandy-coloured fur. It is
neither a mouse - belonging to a family
of its own - nor does it live in doors, and
it is not to be mistaken for the "edible"
or "fat" dormouse which was introduced
into Britain in 1902 in an area around
the Chilterns and which can be a serious
pest. Our native "common" dormouse
is quite small, with an average weight of
15-20 grams - the same as two £1 coins.
It is predominantly nocturnal, spending
much of the day asleep in a nest woven
from leaves and honeysuckle bark,
situated in a tree hole or amongst dense
shrubs. In autumn it begins to eat a
great deal of food so as to
double its weight. and at the
onset of colder weather it
descends to the ground builds
another nest in a depression
under the leaves or moss,
and begins hibernation
During this time the animal
lives on the stored fat built
up and remains in this state
for about five or six months ,
until the following spring
All in all, it spends about
three quarters of its life asleep!
Dormice prefer the woodland edge with
a wide range of shrubs and trees,
especially small sections of old,
coppiced hazel cut in a long rotation of
around 12 to 15 years. This type of
habitat best provides their favoured diet:
berries, nectar, insects, nuts. tiowers and
catkins. Hedgerows can be good
habitats too. especially if they are left
for a number of seasons to grow and
mature. In effect, they are "linear"
woodlands, offering not only a place to
live and breed but also a means of travel
from one wood to another.
Unfortunately, most hedgerows, if they
haven't been removed. are cut by
machine every season in an
unsympathetic
manner, often at
the wrong time
of year, when the
dormice - and
many bird
species - are
nesting.
During the
warmer months
the dormouse
leaves its nest
about an hour
after sunset
looking for food, rarely, if ever,
descending to the ground to do so, and
usually staying within 50 metres. The
first litter of young ones usually appears
about the middle of June, but most are
born in August time and live for up to
five years - much longer than other
rodents of a similar size.
There seems to be many reasons for the
decline in dormouse populations, but the
loss and mismanagement of suitable
habitat, fragmentation of smaller woods
and the grubbing out of hedgerows
are the main factors.
our climate adds to
the overall problem. as
dormice prefer a clear
distinction between seasons.
Mild winters cause hibernation
to be interrupted and the animal loses
energy, while cool summers mean that
less food is available at critical times.
Illustration and photo by courtesy
English Nature
The dormouse is much more than just a
soft, cuddly animal which, because of
the way it looks, deserves to be saved.
This is not a sentimental issue - it's
more than that, because its relatively
rapid decline seems to me to symbolise
everything that has gone wmng with the
overall (mis)management of our
countryside over the past couple of
decades.
Gary Pilkington
Garv Pilkiuxton is Reserve Manager of
the Welcombe and Marsland Nature
Reserve, near Morwenstow, owned by
our national organisation. His
specialist interests include butterflies as
well as dormice, and he is Chairman of
Cornwall Butterfly Conservation.
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