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Evidence of Dormice found in Garnetts wood
During a survey on Saturday 6th February evidence of a dormouse nest was found
Essex and Suffolk Dormouse Project surveyed Garnetts wood in 2003 and were surprised to get a nil result because the wood seemed very suitable, though not perhaps ideal due to lack of recent coppice management. However the result fitted in with the pattern of finding very few signs of dormice in the western part of the county.
More recently volunteers have assisted Graham and over the last 2 years have helped with putting up and checking tubes, but to date no evidence had yet been found.
On Saturday 6th February Graham and Robin from the Dormouse Project accompanied by volunteers Duncan, Angela, Jane, Keith, John and Wendy went to check a line a of tubes put out in May 2009. Unfortunately we found no evidence of dormice only empty tubes or some containing nuts probably put there by wood mice or other small mamals.
(Above photo) John checks a tube watched closely by Graham but it is empty.
On the way back we noticed, what looked like, cylindrical nests high up in a tree in another part of the wood so it was decided to check out some of the tubes that we had put up there in 2008.
Eurika! we found a nest which Robin identified as good evidence that there are dormice in this area of the wood!
The nest found on Saturday (see above) had characteristic dormouse features, viz: use of shredded, fibrous weavable material (birch bark and dead rushes) woven into what would have been a sphere if it hadn't been compressed into the tube, and surrounded at the ends and on top with tree leaves. It is typical of dormouse nests that when you open the tube up, you see a rounded end made up of leaves wrapped around the end of the nest, and usually the whole thing stays in the tube as you try to pull the ply insert out.
Robin considers this to be an important site due to it's apparent isolation from other dormouse sites. Because dormice live a long time (up to 5 years) and live at low densities (up to 10 per hectare is the usually quoted figure) they can persist quite a long time at a site without being found. He advises that it is very important to maintain the wood with adequate areas of optimal habitiat: this doesn't necessarily mean coppicing everything in sight, but does mean realising that as cut areas mature they go through a phase of being good for dormice, then gradually deteriorate as the tree canopy closes over and the variety of food plant species declines.
His advice will give us all food for thought when considering the future management of this beautiful wood.
IMPORTANT NOTE. It is an offence for anyone other than those with a licence to look in tubes and nestboxes put out for dormice.
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