Two months into the Hazel Dormouse survey season and….

We have to admit that April was a little bit of a disappointment because no dormice were found. Ten boxes had bird nests in them; one nest contained nine tiny eggs, another was already occupied with a Blue Tit and sitting in another, a Marsh Tit, which was all good.

Two boxes had Wood Mice in them and as they predate on sleeping dormice and they did not have young with them, we gently removed them and their nests, suggesting they went elsewhere! One of our new trainees put up some nest tubes as required by Natural England who provide the licenses; these will be checked during the June survey.

All smiles after our survey in May because four dormice were found and all well separated across the wood.

The first was active and we noted her richly coloured fur and thick tail; the sign of a mature animal. The next was a sleepy male with greyer fur, so a young one from last year.

The third was nearly missed. She was fast asleep, just covered by a thin layer of moss. I happened to notice a bit of colour that wasn’t the floor of the box. Seeing her half tail and greyer colour, I wonder if she was from the September brood who had gone back to her nursery box only to find that the lush old nest had been cleaned out…? (Sorry but it helps to keep the boxes dry and clean)

And the fourth, in one of the boxes on the steeper slopes got away…. But we saw where it jumped to and were able to leave in the opposite direction.

Hopefully, these, including the younger animals, will be breeding this year so we need to be extra careful this month onwards and leave well alone if we suspect newborns are in

the nest. One giveaway is the lack of any apparent entrance to  the nest which is usually large and packed with leaves and  moss; the mother dormouse will seal up the nest extra carefully. We’ll know by next week and report in the next newsletter.

And, as always, I would like to thank all who keep their dogs on a lead when they see us, identified by two to four grown-ups clustering around a tree, off the path and wearing haversacks and face coverings and holding open large plastic sacks….

 Jen B – Lead surveyor for the National Dormouse

 Monitoring Programme in Stara Woods.

Anne: That’s all for this month, but this Wednesday we’ll be welcoming Veryan Jones MSc, Senior Environment Officer at Cornwall Council, and members of the Nature Recovery Team plus representatives of the EA  group on a visit to Stara as part of their ‘away day’ as they trace the Lynher River from near Hawkstor to Rilla Mill, and myself, Simon & Jen will be talking with them about the woods, but more of that next month. It’ll be my first visit to the woods this year and first ever in my new wonky body-shape! It’ll be interesting to see how I cope.

Also, either today or next Monday (weather permitting) the bridge is scheduled to be re-painted…… we’ll see!!