21st October 2006: Cowlease Woods

This was a very successful day in the woods near Loggerheads. In one wood we found dormice with young and in others we found several adult dormice. The new boxes installed earlier in the year do not seem to have made much impact with animals using either of the boxes (old or new) on the same tree. Numbers from box evidence increased this year overall. Furthermore, we had a chance to get some people more training for their dormouse license.

One dormouse got out of the box before it could be captured, allowing us a brief moment to observe it in its natural habitat. Can you spot it on the picture?

15th October 2006: Cannock Chase Deer Rut

20 members met at 8 am on an overcast windy day and walked out to the known rutting stands of Fallow deer. Some activity was observed via field signs, but no deer was heard or seen. Thus we expanded the search area using local knowledge (other words—horse riders that we met). Finally we heard and followed two bucks calling and eventually managed to see three bucks and associated does briefly. The last sighting of roaring bucks was at about 11 am. In the early afternoon we moved across to Georges Hayes Nature Reserve looking for Red deer rutting. However, no animals were seen and there was only minimal evidence of rutting but lots of field signs of deer present.