We've just finished the July check of our Dormouse nestboxes and were delighted to find 21 animals all seeming to be in good health. The highlight was discovering 2 males and a female in the same box. Not necessarily a happy home because the males seemed to have been scrapping to win the favours of the attractive young lady. Last July we had exactly the same total number of Dormice but that included 9 adults and 12 youngsters. This year all 21 were adults so it looks as though the bad weather has delayed the breeding season. Fingers crossed that young are born soon because they'll need time to put on sufficient weight to survive their winter hibernation. We'll know more when we check the boxes later this year. Fingers crossed until then. Couldn't resist including a cute photo of a Dormouse peeping out of its bracken nest.
Wealden Reserves Office Manager