Today my wife Linda and I assisted our reserve volunteer Dormouse Monitor, Adrian Podmore, to check the 200 Dormouse Nestboxes that we have put out throughout the reserve. We were delighted to find Dormice in 7 of the boxes and Dormouse nests in a few others. It was particularly nice that there were 3 pairs and all the individuals looked to be in good condition. So we hope to find firm evidence of breeding when we check the boxes again in July. Blue Tits are very happy to use the boxes, even though it means using a hole in the back of the box rather than in the front as for purpose-built Blue Tit boxes. We found 32 nests and a conservative total of 227 nestlings in all stages from recently-hatched to about to fledge. Thanks to Adrian for helping with this important task. Here he is weighing one of the Dormice and I couldn't miss the opportunity to post a cute photo of a sleepy Dormouse in my hand.
Wealden Reserves Office Manager