Gwent Willife Trust

Gwent Wildlife Trust
Ymddiriedolaeth Natur Gwent

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Go Nuts for Dormice!
The South Wales Dormouse Survey


Gwent Wildlife Trust is asking for volunteers to ‘go nuts’ as part of a survey looking for signs of one of Wales’ rare and elusive mammals. Dormice are quite small creatures, weighing about the same as two £1 coins. They are bright golden in colour, with a thick furry tail and large black eyes. Dormice are easily distinguished from other mammals, but they are nocturnal so you are very unlikely to come across them on a stroll in the countryside.

Although we know that Gwent is a stronghold for dormice, our knowledge of dormouse distribution at a local level in South Wales is still quite poor.

Gwent Wildlife Trust owns several reserves that support dormice (for example Croes Robert and Pentwyn Farm) but we know very little about where they can be found in the wider countryside. This is why we need volunteers and community groups to help out with a bit of detective work.

 We want people to go out looking for discarded hazelnut shells in their local woodlands and along hedgerows. Dormice eat hazelnuts in a very characteristic way, leaving the shell with very distinctive marks. With a little bit of practice volunteers can learn to identify which nuts have been opened by dormice.

Please send any hazelnut shells with teeth marks to the Trust office with information on when and where they were found.

Dormouse

Further Information:

How Croes Robert is managed for dormice.  http://www.gwentwildlife.org/reserves/charcoalProduction.htm

Basic dormouse facts and pictures.

http://www.bbc.co.uk/nature/wildfacts/factfiles/263.shtml

More about dormouse conservation in Monmouthshire (from the Monmouthshire Local Biodiversity Action Plan)

http://www.monmouthshiregreenweb.co.uk/biodiversitypartnership/files/(B13%20&%20B14)%20Dormouse.pdf


Dormouse Appeal:

Please help us keep Gwent internationally important for dormice. We desperately need the money to keep this work going.  See our dormouse appeal page.


 

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