Staffordshire Mammal Group: 2007

18th November 2007: Warwickshire Moor

someone stole the bedding ;o)

The area being examined today was under 4ft of water during the summer, and produced a larger number of mammals than expected, however quite of few of them were young mammals. It rained most the night and most of the morning, but still 10 members braved the weather! The third trap of the day produced both a wood mouse and a bank vole together (this is only the second time this has been found in Staffordshire) Something was trying to foil the mammal groups trapping efforts and 4 traps had materials blocking the entrance tunnel, although no mammal or poo was found. Several other traps had been turned over on their roofs. One trap ( A Longworth) had been separated from it tunnel and all the bedding has been removed. A case of revenge of the mammals? It just goes to show that we keep learning, and are still trying to figure out what small mammals get up to each day

21st October 2007: Deer Rut

9 members successfully found the locked venue! This included 2 new members. The early morning start was important, as it meant that the group missed the other recreational users e.g. dog walkers.

Local intelligence had informed us of 3 deaths of the mature stags in the area, so the group was not sure what would be found in this area.

2 harems were found, one containing 17 hinds and one with 8. Both stags were young animals, with poor sets of antlers, as can be seen in the photograph.

In another area, a much better stag was seen with a smaller number of hinds. It will be interesting to see if more mature stags move into the area in the near future. The group was privileged to get close views of the deer.

20th October 2007: Hell Wood Dormouse Survey

An excellent turnout, with 8 members attending this extra session. 4 of these brave souls were new to the wood, and found out to their peril just how steep Hell actually is. Unfortunately for the only license holder present (Derek) we went around as one whole group with Derek running up and down between the rows. Overall 2 female dormice were found, one with two juveniles. 7 other nests were found, showing good coverage of the wood. Alongside the dormice over 20 woodmice were found, with 7 in one box alone. One member found a dormice box at the beginning of the day, took it up all his rows, looked after it during lunch, however then disaster struck. His box partner accidentally knocked the box, it rolled down the hill never to be seen again.

19th August 2007: Deep Hayes Country Park

This was a mammal group meeting of extremes - an extreme catch rate in the morning, and extreme weather in the afternoon. 12 people met at Deep Hayes Park in nice, dry conditions. They then checked the 40 traps which had been put out the night before. Amazingly 31 traps had visitors! The majority were wood mice (22) mostly male. 9 Bank voles were found and 1 common shrew. The strangest find of the morning was that one trap had two occupants, a wood mouse and bank vole. The ranger informed us of possible roe deer sightings, so the group set out looking for them. However, the heavens opened, so very few field signs were visible, and no deer paths were found either. The soaking wet group returned home to dry off! The habitat in the park appears to be good for harvest mice, so a return trip in the winter will be beneficial.

8th July 2007: Memorial Arboretum

9 people took part in the last event for national mammal week small mammal trapping at The National Memorial Arboretum. 40 Longworth traps had been set the night before and although most of the site had been under water from the floods we managed to catch 10 wood mice—mostly adult males, 5 bank voles and 1 common shrew. Nearly every body had a go at handling. In the afternoon a walk round the rest of the site found evidence of foxes, otters and badgers as well as 5 hares. Moles were present on site having managed to stay on dry ground but little evidence of field voles which we imagine suffered dramatically from the floods.

4th July 2007: Knypersley

Lots of people braved the weather and met at Knypersley. The adventure started before the meeting with members having to drive (or swim) through a flood! Unfortunately due the rain there were no mammal signs to be seen, so we had a walk around the lake waiting for dark. 4 members managed to find a large badger set on the side of a hill. At dusk, out came the detectors, and the bats. Daubentons, Common and Soprano pips were observed leaving the tower. Later, on the bridge, the group got excellent close ups of bats flying over and under head!

23rd June 2007: Dormouse check

An extra programme event called by Derek Crawley who oversees these woods for Dormice. Good turn out of 13 people but only one license holder so we generally had to stay close together. Weather threatened rain which luckily never occurred.

Nearly 200 boxes across 4 woods were checked in the Loggerheads area - 40 acre and Cowlease being the main ones. Since these woods do have wild populations in them each box gives that thrill of "might contain a dormouse". However, it normally produced an old bird's nest, many of which had dead fledglings in them; a few had wood mice and just 1 box had a dormouse which was in a moss nest. 2 other nests were found but were determined to be old ones.

17th June 2007: Chase water

The group placed some traps, but unfortunately due to the rain there was a low number of mammals out and about. Nonetheless, Common Shrew and Field Vole were found. In the afternoon the group set out deer tracking. There was evidence found of Red deer fawns being left in thick vegetation, with the Mum jumping the fence to feed it. The group did not look for the fawn as it would cause disturbance. Not to worry though, this is quite a normal thing for red deer to do with their fawns!

6th June 2007: Dormouse check

An excellent turnout at Loggerheads, Burntacres Wood, to check the dormouse boxes there. Unfortunately the dormice were not at home and we did not find any. A number of blue-tit nests were found, however, this year most of them contained dead fledglings which was very sad. On the bright side one box did contain a clutch of live fledglings, who did look rather confused when the roof was opened!

nobody home :(

20th May 2007: Hell Wood

Our first visit of the year to the infamous Hell wood by the Manifold Valley. The site is very steep and it resulted in its normal number of falls, curses and bumps. However, 9 dormice were found in 7 boxes, with this year more being found on the left hand side; normally the right side has the most. As ever the day was followed by fantastic cake :)

15th April: Building an Otter Holt

A lovely day for outdoor work. The group was working on a new design of an otter holt - the organic version. You need to dig a hole, with two tunnels coming off. Place about 30 stakes all around the outside. Plant and weave the willow around the stakes. Then weave the willow across to make a dome! Easy!

So the group got to work, digging, chopping (the willow branches have to come from somewhere), weaving and rowing! We built the holt on an island so we had to transport everything across the lake! All in all a successful day and a new otter holt has been made in Staffordshire. Now we just have to wait for the Otters to make it their home.