Monday 4 August 2014

Nottinghamshire dormouse reintroduction

Dormice are close to my heart – I've been smitten since the early 90’s when as an undergrad student at Royal Holloway University of London I was introduced to the species by Pat Morris and Paul Bright, and subsequently spent many hours inputting data collected for the National Dormouse Monitoring Scheme. The NDMS, managed by the People’s Trust for Endangered Species is now the longest running study of its kind for small mammals anywhere in the world, with a massive 25 year data set. After moving to North Yorkshire, I helped coordinate a reintroduction to woodlands near Ripon, which I've been helping monitor ever since. My latest feature for BBC Wildlife magazine focuses on another reintroduction, this time in Nottinghamshire, where 40 captive bred dormice were safely installed in June this year, and I’m delighted to say they've settled well and began breeding immediately.

And, for the first time, the article is accompanied by a video. So you can see my first foray into a bit of low-tech http://www.discoverwildlife.com/british-wildlife/see-it/watch-dormouse-volunteers-action
wildlife film-making on the magazine website here!