So it started out a sunny morning!
Lovely start, I met up with two of my fellow Trustees and we discovered a small nest, not sure if had falled from a tree from a gust of wind or had been victim to another creature, I later asked our Patron, Iolo Williams, what bird may have once been its owner and he thought it was probably a siskin.
That little nest and some owl pellets and another Goldfinch fallen nest were all put safely away for the school Nature Table.
The purpose of our visit into our woods this day was to meet two lovely ecologists, Sandra & Peter, who have volunteered to help Monitor our Dormice. We walked around the site and looked at where the best Dormouse locations were to commence the plan of monitoring.
I have now registered the site as part of the Peoples Trust for Endangered Species (PTES) so the journey begins to learn more about our furry little residents.
Sadly PTES’ national monitoring shows the population of hazel dormice has declined by half since 2000, with the species hanging on mostly in southern parts of England and Wales. So you see it’s important that we help inform the research with out local information about how well they are doing in our woodland.
Eventually we all had to run for cover as the heavens opened and drenched us all.
We have some exciting times ahead.