Dormouse conservation

Dormouse. Danny Green/2020VISION

Danny Green/2020VISION

Dormouse Conservation Warwickshire

Hazel Dormouse conservation

Renowned for being very cute and very sleepy, the Hazel Dormouse (Muscardinus avellanarius) is the only species of dormouse that is native to Britain. Tragically, dormice have suffered a serious decline over the last century.

Dormouse conservation

Credit: Clare Pengelly

How we’re helping hazel dormice

The rare hazel dormouse was reintroduced into one of our sites in 2017 and 2018 as part of the Dunsmore Living Landscape Scheme.

We partnered with Warwickshire Mammal Group, the People’s Trust for Endangered Species (PTES) and the Zoological Society of London (ZSL) to reintroduce the species to Wappenbury Wood and Ryton Woods. With over a decade of woodland restoration on these sites, it’s hoped that the reintroduction will succeed long-term in bringing back this iconic and elusive native species.

In 2018, 38 dormice were released onto another site within the scheme area in a hope to improve their dispersal across not only the living landscape area, but also with time, the county.

Continued surveying of the species during the 2019 season revealed that the species is breeding as unchipped young were found in nest boxes. This allows us to monitor new generations and also helps us see how individuals are moving around the woods, and we continue to monitor these populations between May and October each year.

A dormouse nestled in a persons hands

Credit: Clare Pengelly

We also suspect that the project enabled us to identify a tiny pre-existing population in Ryton Wood. They were found, unchipped, the year after the Ryton Wood release, in a location which was a considerable distance from the release point and much further away than any of the others had travelled.

Three local conservation groups: Heart of England Forest, the Earlswood Wildlife Partnership and the Stour Valley Wildlife Action Group also carry out survey work to try to find more native populations of this iconic mammal.

Find out more about hazel dormouse conservation

Why do hazel dormice need our help?

Although dormice used to be widespread throughout England and Wales, their populations have decreased substantially and there are only a few scattered populations remaining in the Midlands. This has largely been due to inadequate land management and farming, which has meant that the number of woodlands and hedgerows, where dormice live, has been dramatically reduced. The Hazel Dormouse is a European protected species and is listed on schedule 5 of the 1981 Wildlife & Countryside Act; it is therefore protected against any deliberate killing, injuring or habitat destruction.

In 1999 Warwickshire had only six known populations of dormice, according to a county-wide survey for Natural England. Only one of these appears to remain today and the species is the subject of Local Biodiversity Action Plan (LBAP). In 2009 Ruth Moffatt, former LBAP Co-ordinator, took on the plight of the dormouse by forming the Warwickshire Dormouse Conservation Group, later called Dormouse Conservation Warwickshire, to research the current status of the species in the county. A 45-page report 'The Status of the Hazel Dormouse (Muscardinus avellanarius) in Warwickshire, Coventry & Solihull in 2016' includes an account of this search for Warwickshire's missing dormice.

The early work of the Warwickshire Dormouse Conservation Group

The Dormouse Conservation Warwickshire is now part of the Warwickshire Mammal Group.

All the woodlands with reported dormouse populations in 1999 were surveyed between 2009- 2016, sadly with negative results, also several other woodlands with anecdotal records of dormice since 2000. Surveys involved searching for nibbled hazelnuts and the installation of nest tubes in hedgerows and shrubs; it is believed that the best location for tubes is on the edge of woodlands where the light produces more flowers, fruits and insects than inside a wood.

However, all too often the tubes have provided homes for birds and wood mice! Members carry out the maintenance and checking of nest tubes between February and November and also survey new woodlands to assess their potential suitability for dormice. In addition members have helped to monitor the one remaining native dormouse population and the two introduced populations.

In 2012 PTES awarded funding for survey work and equipment for use within Warwickshire Wildlife Trust's Dunsmore Living Landscapes Scheme. This part of the landscape scale project is called 'Action for Dormice' involved mapping of the area to identify good fruiting hazel and the installation of nest tubes and boxes in Ryton and Wappenbury Woods.

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