#1 2016 MAMMAL NEXT DOOR E MAGAZINE FOR LITTLE EXPLORERS WOODLAND HAZEL DORMOUSE MUSTELID FAMILY TREE GAMES AND CRAFTS Welcome to the first Spring Issue of The Mammal Next Door! spring Here you will learn about some of the mammals that are resident within the UK and how to spot them, as many mammals are nocturnal and as such very elusive. We will also teach you what mammals get up to in the spring season. In this issue we have the life of a hazel dormouse as our Mammal Hero, The Family Tree is about mustelids and our Landscape of the Season is Woodland. You will also meet our Guides: Oddity a Brown Long-eared bat and a very young fox cub called Cosmos. So winter has come and gone and mammals that hibernate are starting to wake-up, if you are lucky you may catch a glimpse of an early evening foraging Hedgehog or a Bat like Oddity in flight catching insects. For those mammals that do not hibernate, spring is also a busy time as they go looking for mates or are rearing their young to independence. Spring is a great season to get out and about looking for signs of our elusive mammals. With April showers and unpredictable weather, muddy footpaths are a great place to investigate mammal footprints creating a natural footprint survey of mammals near you! Online Issue mammalnextdoor.co.uk · 3 · MAMMAL HERO hazel dormouse The dormouse is a small, nocturnal mammal with golden-brown fur and large black eyes. They have a furry semi-prehensile tail and their feet are extremely good at gripping (both adaptations make them excellent climbers). Dormice are true hibernators and can be in this state for 6 months or more. When active dormice spend most of their time in tree canopies (they are arboreal) and not just in deciduous woods, they have been found in pine-dominated forests and in people’s greenhouses and allotments! Pocket Jerboa Online Article mammalnextdoor.co.uk/issue-1-spring Pocket Gophers Dormice Mice Mountain Beaver Rats & Mice Beavers Squirrels Springhare Scaly-tailed Gundis Squirrels Did you know? The dormouse is not a true mouse, it is intermediate in behaviour and ecology of mice and squirrels. Unlike mice and rats, dormice do not have large litters all year round and in this way they are more like squirrels (having small litters once, sometimes twice a year). They also have furry tails unlike mice and rats. Common Ancestor · 5 · HAZEL DORMOUSE MAMMAL HERO Online Article mammalnextdoor.co.uk/issue-1-spring Size & weight Breeding 6.5-8.0cm head and body length, tail is 80% Average four offspring born July to August of the body length. The weight is on average but can have litters in May/June. Weaned in 18-20g increasing up to 35g for hibernation. one month and juveniles can stay with mum Juveniles have to reach 15-18g to enter and prior to dispersal. Usually one litter a year survive hibernation. but can have two. Habitat In their native UK range (southern England Weasel and Wales) they are localised and in low Predators densities. The main habitat is old coppice Population Status Dormice tend to live at low densities and woodland, ancient semi-natural woodland, Rare and vulnerable to extinction. The are generally not predated. However Owls, scrub, old hedges and they’ve also been population has reduced in both range and Weasels, Grey Squirrels and Cats will take found in conifer. numbers. dormice in their active period. Badger and Wild Boar will predate dormice when they Conservation Status are in hibernation. Dormice are protected under The Wildlife & Countryside Act 1981, they are a Threats European Protected Species and listed Slow breeders and poor dispersers. as a Biodiversity Action Plan species. It is Vulnerable to the isolation of habitat through illegal to disturb, handle or take a dormouse hedge removal, lack of habitat management without a licence. Eurasian Eagle-Owl and fragmentation of woodlands. Field Signs Nests Chewed nuts In spring and summer, Nuts with a neat round hole dormice weave their nest in the shell about 8-10mm up in the tree cracks and across. Dormouse chewed- crevices where there’s food Summer (8-15 cm) hazelnuts have a smooth Example: Hazelnut available. Later in winter they inner rim with tooth marks descend to the ground to at an angle to the hole on hibernate. Winter nests are the nut surface. tight woven fibrous nests, about grapefruit sized. Winter (8-10cm) · 6 · · 7 · HAZEL DORMOUSE MAMMAL HERO Online Article mammalnextdoor.co.uk/issue-1-spring Food Spring Early summer Mid-summer Autumn Hibernation Spring When dormice come out of hibernation, they eat tree flowers (hawthorn, sycamore, hazel catkins, wayfaring tree & dogwood). Early summer In early summer, they eat flowers and flower R JA MBE NUA ECE RY nectar from bramble and honeysuckle. D R FE E B B R M U E A V R O Y N Mid-summer During mid-summer, there are no flowers R M E A B and the berries aren’t ripe yet, so they eat R O C T H C aphids and caterpillars. O S E P T E L Autumn I In autumn, dormice eat fruit and seeds: M R B P E A Hazelnuts, blackberries, sloes, sweet R chesnuts, elderberries, rose hipes, willow seeds, wayfaring tree, cherries and yew A berries. U G U Y S A T M JU E LY JUN Did you know? Dormice lack a caecum which means they are unable to eat cellulose (present in leaves). · 8 · · 9 · LANDSCAPE OF THE SEASON WOODLAND Online Article mammalnextdoor.co.uk/issue-1-spring WOODLAND Bat Roost Crevices in trees can 1,000’s of years ago the UK was covered Woodlands provide mammals with food, provide resting places by woodlands, today deciduous woodlands commuting routes, and places to rest and for many animals, for cover approximately 13%. Woodlands are rear young and therefore many mammals instance birds, mice, shrew, dormice and bats. amazing places and visiting one at any time can be found in woodland. Some species of the year is wonderful, but in spring many are quite common for instance; fox, badger, deciduous woods are carpeted blue or white hare, grey squirrel and wood mouse. Some with Bluebells and Wood Anemones. If you however are not so common such as the are very quiet you may see deer foraging hazel dormouse, red squirrel, and some of under the not yet leafed canopy, their our native bat species and finding evidence reddish-brown fur contrasting brilliantly with that one of these is present is a rare and the blue of the Bluebells. exciting treat. Squirrel Drey If you learn the characteristic signs and look closely you This is the name for a too can find evidence of mammal presence in a woodland. squirrel's nest. The dreys are made from local materials that the squirrel has found (leaves, twigs, conifer needles) and lined with softer material such as grass or stripped honeysuckle. Badger Sett Badgers live in family groups and dig out extensive underground homes (sett), some setts can house up to 50 related individuals. · 10 · · 11 · LANDSCAPE OF THE SEASON WOODLAND Online Article mammalnextdoor.co.uk/issue-1-spring Logs Fallen trees and piles of logs can provide denning sites for foxes and small mustelids (stoat and weasel). Dormouse Box Pile of Nuts Not all woodlands have these. Under hazel at anytime of the They are used as a monitoring year you can find hazelnuts tool to assess the local dormouse which may have been eaten population. If you find one in a by squirrels, mice, voles, wood, please don’t touch or look dormice or birds. inside as it is illegal to disturb a dormouse without a licence. Mouse Hole Mice and voles dig Deer Droppings Deer Tracks Mole Signs out these holes (and Often left in small piles On wet or muddy Moles aren’t just tunnels) to provide a on tracks in woods. They ground resident deer in found in grassland, nesting area where are usually separate the woods may leave they are also present they can sleep and cylindrical pellets, tracks. The size of the in woodlands. Their rear their young. pointed at one end and footprint can help you presence can be seen indented at the other, but identify the species. by mole hills. sometimes, the droppings are clumped together. · 12 · · 13 · FAMILY TREE MUSTELIDAE FAMILY Weasels, stoats, polecats, martens, minks, otters and badgers are all members of the weasel family (Mustelidae), and resemble each other in build, colouring or behaviour. Mustelidae is one of the MUSTELIDAE oldest families of mammals, as well as one of the largest families of carnivores. The difference in size between the smallest and largest mustelid species is noticeable. Mustelids have elongated bodies, FAMILY short legs and scent glands. Lutrinae European Otter Lutra lutra All year round it spends its time playing and hunting along riverbanks, being perfectly adapted to a semi-aquatic life. It is native and localised throughout the UK. Their territories are usually about 10 miles of river where males and females may overlap. Other habitats include lakes, ponds, canals and streams and in Scotland the coast. Its diet is mostly fish and also frogs. As it is able to see just as well underwater as it can above the water, it can prey on water birds, such as moorhens and ducks. Breeding Territoriality Moulting 1 to 5 cubs can be born in the As is the case through the rest Occurs all year round with no spring after their mother’s 9 weeks of the year, both sexes protect apparent difference between the gestation.