Conservation & Ecology


Darren Anderson (left) with beekeeper and club member Peter Warren Description and other behaviour


According to PTES: “Hazel dormice have golden‐brown fur and large black eyes and, distinctively, they are the only small British mammal with a furry tail.”


The organisation concludes that their overall length is somewhere around 7cm at average, with a tail nearly this length again, and they tend to weigh about 20g whilst awake and perhaps almost double this weight when beginning to hibernate. They live for up to five years in the wild. When they do succeed in finding food and shelter, they will thrive upon a mixed diet which helps to both provide fat for winter, as with sugary berries, and protein, as with nuts.


They are, usefully, omnivorous. This means they can also gain those vital proteins and fats from aphids and other small insects, larvae and larval galls.


Threats


Due to their size, expertise at hiding (and being asleep), and their need to live far away from one‐another, dormice aren’t predated


as often as other small mammals. However, when they are found, they can be eaten by owls, cats, and occasionally dogs or other birds of prey if the dormouse is still around in the morning. But, this is most dangerously the case with the modern nemesis of small UK wildlife, the grey squirrel.


This grey squirrel threat, as red squirrels have also found to their detriment, is pernicious because it is a two‐pronged attack. It is also a result of the grey squirrel thriving in similar conditions and on similar foods, such as hazelnuts and other seeds, nuts and fruits.


Maybe the biggest threat to dormice in this country, however, is the same threat faced by the panda: their own inability to successfully breed and survive in the modern, human‐ravaged world. They are slow to move to new areas and will almost always become extinct where challenged.


Quick Facts


The following facts about hazel dormice, our most common species, were taken from


Sleepy dormouse at the Mad Hatters Tea Party


Countryfile and give some insight into the mysteries surrounding the tiny animal:


• Hazels weigh as little as two £1 coins


• Until about a century ago, they were kept as pets


• The Romans stuffed them or dipped them in honey


• They are now extinct in seven English counties


• They’re so‐names because hazelnuts are their ideal food


• It is illegal to injure, kill or even ‘disturb’ dormice in the UK


© David Chapman 128 I PC APRIL/MAY 2018


Old tennis balls make ideal nests for small rodents


Common or Hazel Dormouse (Muscardinus avellanarius)


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