Watch where you tread

[Rod Taylor]

A quick picture of a dormouse hibernating nest on open ground in our wood.
Spotted on a windy day after the covering leaves were blown away. One to watch to see when it comes out of hibernation, while keeping fingers crossed it is missed by hungry predators.

[boxerman]

I do like that.... Just as a matter of interest, know nothing about Dormice, how do you know that's a Dormouse hibernating nest??

[Rod Taylor]

Have good numbers of Dormice in our wood and licence for monitoring, so used to recognising them. Still surprises me though how exposed the nests can be and still avoid predation. There is a large active Badger sett close by and a Fox regularly leaves his mark on the track less than 10 feet away. Being snuggled up cold and wet all winter doesn't appeal to me, but must rinse away any scent and make them hard to locate. Isn't evolution amazing !!

[splodger]

we have a few dormice in our woods - but they do like to hide themselves away, so seldom do we see any. it's the nut shells that they leave behind that are our tell tale signs that they are doing ok

[Rod Taylor]

The nest is still looking the same and should have been vacated by now, so not looking promising to have survived the winter. Will investigate in a few days time while doing the box checks and hope it's just a late sleeper.

[splodger]

i asked my dad today about the doormice at our place - he's seen one running about (about a week ago) spotted quite a few nests also - but i didn't take my camera today, so no nest site pics

[Rod Taylor]

All's well. Investigated the nest yesterday and was empty so another successful hibernation. Always amazed at how Dormice manage to make, enter and leave a woven nest without any sign of a hole.
A good count of Dormice in the boxes this month although down on last years total. Here's a picture of three torpid Dormice found rolled in a loose ball of moss in one of the boxes.