Dormice on Camera

Earlier this year we struck up a new partnership with the Surrey Dormouse Group. They have developed a nest box which can house a small camera, and are hoping to be able to record rare footage of dormice in their nest boxes... and in particular how they build and construct their nests.

They have recorded much footage in the wild, but have still yet to acquire the nest building strategies of our only native dormice species. Therefor they cam to us to try and capture it on film with captive dormice.

We have the nest box camera set up in with one of our female dormice at the moment, and have already captured some rarely seen images including some nest building. It is all proving to be very promising, and we are hoping that between us we can capture something quite special over the Summer weeks.

Of course, once we get things all sorted out and video clips have been sorted and organised, then over the Summer I will post some of the better behaviour we have seen.

Goodbye to Eric

It has been a sad week for us all at the Centre. This Wednesday the decision was made to put our Master Stag, "Eric", down.

Eric had a bad accident 5 years ago when he broke his leg... usually this would mean an instant decision to euthanise, but it healed quickly and he coped very well. However as the years went on, it was obvious that the extra age began to take it's toll. Last rut he struggled, and then really deteriorated over the cold Winter spell.

Coming into the Spring he was making no improvements, he was struggling to eat with little to no teeth left, was struggling to move around with his bad leg and stiffness and looked like he was generally losing condition all over. Eric was nearly 16 years old, a lot older than many stags reach in the wild.

It was decided at the beginning of the week, under our vet's recommendation, to put him down.

For those that know me well, you will know I have always had a soft spot for our deer, and for Eric in particular having worked with him for the past 8 years. He was a kind soul, and showed no aggression towards me or any of the keepers... even during the rut. Quite rare for a captive stag which hand fed.

I will miss Eric a lot, as I am sure many regular visitors will too, but it was his time and his leaving makes way for a new stag to take the helm of the herd.

Next week we will be welcoming a new red deer stag to our group, and we will be keeping one of Eric's sons to grow and mature. This will allow our deer to rut again in the Autumn, as well as inject a new bloodline into our herd.

Harvest Mouse Release

It's that time again when we start thinking about releasing some of our harvest mice back into the wild. We have successfully bred these tiny mammals for many years, and last year looked at the possibility of introducing them onto our nature reserve and even tried a few trial releases.

They seemed to go very well, and so this year we are going for a big release to see if we can establish a small population in the reed banks around our wetland boardwalk. Below you can see the type of habitat they will inhabit, with nice thick bramble hedgerows nearby for them to use in the Winter. Within the reeds we have created a couple of soft-release pens. These act as halfway homes for the mice to live in, and acclimatise to the outside conditions, before the door is left open and they are free to explore the nature reserve a their own pace.

The first batch went out yesterday, making the most of the dry spell we have this week, and we plan to continue with several releases over the rest of the year.

Keep your eyes open next time you are wandering around our boardwalk, if you are patient and lucky enough you may well see some of our mice enjoying the reeds.