Eastern England – creating woodland habitats & supporting our wildlife
Eastern England is home to some of Britain’s rarest wildlife and much of it differs from Scotland, North West England and North Wales. You won’t find any Red Squirrels (Link to north of England Squirrel page) but you will see Water Voles – Norfolk is a national stronghold for this rarest of creatures.
To find out exactly what is happening in your county, why not visit the Wildlife Trust Website to find Your Local Wildlife Trust.
The Wildlife Trust for Bedfordshire, Cambridgeshire has 129 nature reserves across the three counties, which together cover over 2,300 hectares – over nine square miles.
The 7 collective Trusts known as the East Midlands Wildlife Trusts have 270 nature reserves covering over 7,000 hectares.
The Water Vole facing extinction
Did you know that they are nearly as rare as hen’s teeth?
Lovingly named "Ratty" from Wind in the Willows, the Water Vole was once common place on the banks of our burns, their demise has been catastrophic in recent years and they are now the fastest declining mammal in the UK. National surveys show they have been lost from more than 89% of sites they inhabited sixty years ago.
Norfolk is one of the national strongholds with good populations in the Broads, along the North Norfolk coast, in the Fens area and on the South Norfolk claylands. You can see them at Norfolk Wildlife Trust Reserves at Hickling and Ranworth . Well vegetated freshwater dykes along the edges of cattle-grazed fields in the Norfolk Fens and along the North Norfolk coast also support small populations.
Predictions for the water voles future are bleak, based on the current population declines it is possible that the water vole may become extinct in the UK by 2016.
On a positive note what is being done to help them?
Like the Red Squirrel, the Water Vole is one of the top UK species identified for a UK wide bio diversity action plan. The Regional Wildlife Trusts have selected this species as a conservation priority and has developed an action programme of survey, habitat improvement, and mink control and monitoring to help save this beautiful animal which is part of the freshwater habitat in Britain.
What does a Water Vole look like?
The Wildlife Trusts have created a leaflet called ‘Know Your Vole’ which you can download: Know your Vole leaflet (pdf 233.6KB).
There is also another interesting and colourful Fact File created by the Worcestershire Wildlife Trust which you can download Leaflet on Water Voles (pdf 316.3KB).
Report a siting
Now you know what a Water Vole looks like, you can help preserve this rare creature by reporting a siting which you can do online: ‘Know Your Vole’ reporting a siting on line.
Interesting links for Water Voles:
Find your local action plan for Water Voles
Useful documents:
Press release from the Wildlife Trusts
Water Vole Biodiversity Action Plan for Norfolk
The Hazel Dormouse is an endangered woodland creature
Dormice are one of the top ten protected species in the UK. They love eating hazelnuts – hence the name!
Like Natures Nest hens, dormice love woodland areas so we are keen to help support them. There is a UK Bio Diversity Action Plan for their survival. If you would like to see what your area is doing to protect the dormouse please click this link.
What do they look like?
They are easily recognised because they have large eyes and are bright golden in colour. Their small bodies are around 6-9cm with a 5 – 6cm tail and they are the only small mammal to have a thick bushy tail. Adults weigh only 15 – 26 grams but can get up to 43g before hibernation.
Where do they live?
Most dormice live in deciduous (broad-leaved) woodland and thick hedgerows. We don’t know their exact distribution, but they are found mainly in the southern counties from Cornwall to Kent northwards to Herefordshire and Northamptonshire. In Bedford they are commonly present in ancient woodlands around Whipsnade and Studham. They were also successfully reintroduced to Maulden Wood in 2001. Leicestershire and Rutland are sparsely wooded, and it is likely the species was always relatively rare. The most recent records in this area were at Pickworth Great Wood, in eastern Rutland, where 40 boxes were put up in 1995.
Worcestershire Wildlife Trust provide an interesting Worcestershire Dormouse pdf fact sheet about Dormice to download.
How do they live?
The Dormouse is a strictly nocturnal species that hibernates during the winter. It therefore spends 3/4 of its life asleep – behaviour which earned them their sleepy reputation in Lewis Carroll’s Adventures of Alice in Wonderland.
They can be found in woodland and overgrown hedgerows. Dormice climb amongst tree branches in search of food, rarely coming to the ground. Depending on the season, they feed on flowers, pollen, fruits, insects and nuts. During the day they sleep in a nest, often in a hollow tree branch, deserted bird nest or nest box.
They can raise one or occasionally two litters a year, each usually of about four young. The new-born dormice stay with their mother for the first 6-8 weeks. The breeding season and success depends very much on the weather. Dormice are able to lower their body temperature and become torpid, so saving energy, if food is short or weather prevents them foraging.
Protection and conservation
Surveys show that dormice have declined in Britain this century. Loss and fragmentation of ancient woodlands, climatic difficulties and suspension of coppicing are all probably connected with this. Woodland coppice management creates good conditions but cleared areas and wide rides may interfere with the movements of dormice, because the animals live almost exclusively in the trees.
Nest boxes, put up with the entrance facing a tree trunk, are attractive to dormice and help survival and breeding success. Re-introductions of dormice are often suggested, but these require suitable (large) areas of woodland habitat and long periods of supplementary feeding.
Are there dormice in my local wood?
Dormice are small, secretive and nocturnal and so are unlikely to be seen except by accident. Eastern England does not have much broadleaf woodland so it would be a very rare siting indeed. The best way to find out if they live in your area is to look for signs of their presence such as nests and remains of food – mainly hazelnuts. If you do see one why don’t you visit www.greatnuthunt.org.uk and register your siting!
Dormice construct their own nests from shredded honeysuckle bark woven into a ball, which they often surround with layers of leaves. It is a messy structure roughly the size of a grapefruit, without any definite entrance. Nests may be close to the ground, but have been found as high as 22 metres. You may find them in places like low bramble bushes or thick undergrowth beneath trees with edible fruit such a hazel and sweet chestnut. Nibbled nuts can also be used to identify the presence of dormice. Small mammals have characteristic ways of opening hazel nuts. The hole in a nut opened by a dormouse, has a smooth inside surface with tooth marks around it on the shell surface.
Useful links
Join the search for Dormice who love hazel nuts
Find out more about your woodlands by visiting the Forestry Commission – East of England
The Brown hare is increasingly rare and is second only to the Water Vole in decline over the last 100 years.
Thought to be introduced by the Romans, the late 1800s saw about four million brown hares in Britain. But recent surveys show they have declined by more than 80% during the past 100 years and the decline is ongoing. In some parts of Britain they may even be locally extinct. Fortunately in our area they are more numerous and north Norfolk has a very strong population – and therefore a particular responsibility for safeguarding its population.
Click through to the Brown Hare Biodiversity Action Plan for Norfolk
What are they like?
Brown hares are much larger than rabbits and have orangey-grey fur and very long, black-tipped ears and large powerful hind legs. Weighing 3 – 4kg they are around 520 – 595mm in body with tails of 85 – 120mm. They live exclusively above ground in shallow scrapes that they dig out in the ground called ‘forms’. Speed is their main defence and they can run at up to 50kmph to escape predators. As they run, they tuck their tail down so that the white patch is not visible from behind and does not act as a target for predators.
Hares are mostly active at night and generally forage at dusk and dawn. Although they are mainly solitary creatures, they come together in small groups late in winter and spring evenings and regularly perform a spectacular courtship ritual. This usually involves several males chasing a female.
Breeding Hares breed from February to September and females can have up to four litters per year, each averaging four young (leverets). Females look after the leverets on their own and the young are weaned after three to four weeks.
What do they eat and where do they live
They live mainly on arable farmland, grasslands with sheltered areas in long grass, hedgerows and ditches and eat young cereal crops, oilseed rape, wild grasses and herbs. In the winter they like turnips.
Predators & Threats and conservation
Threats come mainly from foxes but also regularly shot as game and as a pest when numerous. The changing ways of farming are also having a detrimental effect and the decline in number has lead to a national Bio Diversity Action Plan. You can download this Bio Diversity Action plan for the Brown Hare
If you would like more information you can download The Game Conservancy Trust’s on-line fact-sheet on Brown Hares
Useful web links:
Looking forwards for wildlife – our vision for the East Midlands