Dormice or not?
I helped Joe from the Hampshire and IOW Wildlife Trust install about 18 survey boxes in the brambles and Hazel trees. You have to have a licence to handle dormice so I hope to go with him to see if we have any when he checks each month April to November. If you inspect early morning they are usually fast asleep!
The best place to put the tubes is along a horizontal branch in the brambles facing down. The nest is built at the end over the strip of wood halfway along. The boxes might also be used by field mice and Joe can tell by the way the nest has been constructed.
If we do have them we can install permanent boxes like bird boxes but with the hole at the back.
The Hazel Dormouse is seriously endangered.
https://www.woodlandtrust.org.uk/trees-woods-and-wildlife/animals/mammals/hazel-dormouse/
https://www.woodlandtrust.org.uk/publications/2017/01/ancient-woodland-restoration-for-dormice/
Update in July: So far no sign but we have seen evidence of weasels or stoats which might be why.
Update in November: Survey has ended and no dormice found – we will resurvey in a few years as HIWWT said they hadn’t even found any in the boxes on the Isle of Wight (where there are known colonies) due to the abnormally warm weather in 2022.
The Adventures of Alex 