During the day, dormice sleep in a nest, often in a hollow tree branch or old bird's nest-box, several feet off the ground. A nest is domed in shape about 15cm 6in across, and to build it the dormouse shreds honeysuckle bark, weaves it into a ball and may surround it with leaves.
The dormouse usually forages no more than 70 metres from its nest. An old English name for the dormouse is 'the sleeper'; it is the only British rodent which hibernates, and it does this from about mid-October until April or May.
Before hibernation, a dormouse eats as much as it can in order to build up a fat store. It makes a nest deep in a hedge or on the ground, lines it with grass, wool, leaves etc, and prepares a little store of food in case it wakes up during a warm spell.
Then it curls up into a tight ball and goes to sleep. As the weather warms up, a hibernating dormouse's body temperature begins to rise and it takes about 20 minutes to become fully awake. Any hibernating mammals can sometimes awaken on warmer days to find additional food, but bats do so much more frequently. Bats have extended periods of torpor prior to going into hibernation, so it really depends on the climate and if they have been successful in finding a suitable roosting site.
Hollow tree trunks, caves and crevices in old buildings help keep them safe, but it is possible that you may see a bat flying around in winter on milder days. Other mammals that snooze in a state of torpor are badgers and squirrels.
Badgers curl up in their family setts and squirrels temporarily hunker down in dreys conserving energy. On warmer days they will awaken to replenish their fat reserves by hunting for alternative food or, in the case of squirrels, trying to remember where they have hidden their stash of nuts and acorns! Most amphibians: the frogs, toads and newts overwinter in quiet areas of vegetation, leaf piles, compost heaps, dead wood and even in loose soil as they bury themselves below the surface level and away from the temperature extremes.
However, they don't tend to hibernate for the whole winter and may come out during spells of mild weather for a spot of foraging. Similarly, log piles, leaves and compost provide hibernating sites for our reptiles such as common lizards, grass snakes, adders and slow worms.
These species can be greatly impacted by human disturbance, as it takes a lot of effort and valuable energy to recover and return back to hibernation The answer varies between species, but those mammals like dormice, which depend on there being a plentiful supply of nuts and berries will be the first to suffer if changing climatic conditions impact the reliability of nut producing trees when they most need it. Only time will tell, so for now, we can all do out bit to protect our hibernating animals by providing them with ample safe places to sleep and to minimise the risk of disturbing them in winter.
Help protect wildlife homes. Hazel dormice are hard to spot — not only do they only come out at night, but they are also only found in very few places in the UK.
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Despite the cold and wet weather, some birds will be beginning their breeding rituals. The edible dormouse has a unique trick for evading predators. If grabbed by the tail it can shed the fur and skin of its tail and escape. It can only do this once though, as the bare tail bones soon fall off, leaving the animal tailless, but otherwise unharmed.
The hazel dormouse muscardinus avellanarius is our only native dormouse and an endangered species in the UK. They need our help. The Peoples Trust for Endangered Species estimates that the hazel or common dormouse population in the UK is declining by 5.
They are protected under Schedule 5 of the wildlife and countryside act, they are a European protected species and a priority species under the UK Biodiversity action plan. It can be hard to actually see a hazel dormouse in the wild for reasons we will come on to shortly. But you can tell a lot about it from its name.
And the hazel bit refers not to the sandy brown colour of their fur, but to one of their favourite foods, the hazelnut. Hazel dormice are actually more closely related to squirrels and beavers.
But they are not hard to recognise. They are our only small mammal with a long furry tail, gingery brown like the rest of the fur juveniles may be more grey in colour. They have prominent round ears that stick up on top of their heads and very large, brownish-black eyes. The Hazel dormouse is nothing if not photogenic! The species is rarely spotted north of the Midlands, though there are known to be a few breeding populations in the lake district.
They are not present in Scotland. It was thought that hazel dormice lived almost exclusively in hazel woods. They are difficult to spot and were most often found in the winter by woodland workers coppicing hazel. But modern research has been able to confirm that the hazel dormouse can and does live in a much wider range of habitats.
Mixed deciduous woodland. Scrub, well-established hedgerows, even conifer plantations and rural gardens can provide a home. Hazel Dormice are successional eaters. This means they eat with the seasons. They start in spring with nectar-rich flowers like honeysuckle and hawthorn blossom.
In summer they move on to insects and small aphids and as autumn arrives they feast on nuts and fruit. Hazelnuts are a favourite food and they access the nut by making a very distinctive neat round hole in the shell.
Finding the discarded shells in the woods is another way of spotting the presence of dormice — even if you cant actually see the animal. Like the hedgehog and the bat, hazel dormice hibernate, Boy do they hibernate! In the UK they typically hibernate for at least six months of the year — October to April, to conserve resources during the winter cold and food scarce months.
Dormouse hibernation is deeper than that of the hedgehog. Body temperature has been recorded dropping below -2 centigrade. And unlike the hedgehog, the hazel dormouse rarely rouses from hibernation to move, eat or drink. As well as winter hibernation dormice will sometimes enter a state of torpor during the summer months.
They often spend many hours during the spring months in a torpid state, which means they mate much later than most woodland mammals. Hazel dormice are strictly nocturnal. Sleeping during the day and coming out to live their lives at night. During the daytime, dormice build nests to sleep in. These may b in hedgerows. Tree branches or holes in mature trees. They are also happy to borrow old birds nests or sleep in nest boxes. Dormice spend most of their lives above the ground.
They are extremely agile, using their whiskers, eyesight and hearing to navigate through the branches at night. They typically forage at between 2 and 10 meters above ground level. So trees must be connected by a good layer of undergrowth which allows them to move and feed freely.
Thick hedges also enable movement. This is why mature, traditionally coppiced woodland is an ideal habitat for dormice. Coppicing allows light to penetrate the tree canopy, so the undergrowth can grow and fruit. If the tree canopy is too thick, no light gets through and the woodland floor becomes bare.
The only time dormice to like to come down to the ground is during hibernation season in the winter months. Hibernation nests are always built on or just under the ground, as they need to remain moist through winter. Hazel dormice form long-lasting pair bonds with evidence of the same pair using the same nesting site for successive years.
This is very unusual for small rodents.
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