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!