A very successful day at the sustainability show

I am not sure I have ever been as tired as I was, coming home from the Sustainability Show last sunday! We had a brilliant day, which was jam packed and full of fun! We were so busy all day long, meeting new people and making woodland clay nymphs. I don't actually know what they are called as they started off very woodlandy and au natrel and then somehow merged with the Moulin Rouge look or a night in Vegas. We may have to consider an alternative name for these wonderful feathery clay creatures.

We also managed to get all the nuts we collected a few months back in the woods, sorted out into different piles so that we can get them sent off to the chief nutter. We had help from so many children to identify what sorts of animals that could have been nibbling away at the nuts, and hopefully we will find out when the chief nutter gets them, if we were right. We very much hope that the nibbled nuts that we found were nibbled by Dormice, as we would love to know if we have Dormice in the woods. This is what we were looking for:
Dormice like to eat hazelnuts and if you examine a hazelnut shell it is possible to tell for certain whether it has been eaten by a dormouse.  Look at the picture of the hazelnuts on the left. Both have been eaten by Dormice. The characteristics are a neat smooth circular cut to the inside of the opening and tiny radiating teeth marks on the outside. Woodmice also like hazelnuts and eat them in a similar way but the inside of the cut shell is not smooth as woodmice gnaw across the cut. Squirrels just crack the nuts open with their powerful jaws.

So remember, a smooth circular cut with tiny radiating teeth marks is the sign of the Dormouse!

There is lots of information on the internet about Dormice and why they are so rare these days and why we should make sure we protect them. It is worth having a read. You can also adopt a Dormouse from the Somerset Wildlife Trust to help to protect them.

Anyway, I digress...any excuse to talk about Dormice really. The sustainability show was a great success in general. We met some wonderful people at the Sustainability Show and I very much hope that we will get to see them again soon at one of our woodland events, playschemes or family days over the summer and beyond. If you would like further information on any of the things that are happening in the woods, please feel free to contact us by email or phone.