Small mammals vs. large mammals

Working with animals and teenagers may at first seem a hairy sort of idea, but then again you might be surprised.

At the end of a manic March, a group of around 15 of the Gatwick Greenspace Partnership's Youth Rangers visited our woodlands and grasslands, over in the Land East of the Railway Line. The main aim of the day was to survey Gatwick's small mammals, targeting the different habitats to see what we could find. 

A Longworth trap in woodland undergrowth

Vacancies: a free overnight stay with full board

In the 3 days leading up to this event, I set out some humane Longworth traps which were checked and reset every 12 hours. They were stuffed with plenty of warm hay, a generous stash of porridge oats, fresh carrot and mealworms to suit all mammally tastes.
  Surveying over several days gives time for the small mammals to acclimatise to the presence of the traps, so every day our capture rate increased. On the last day we got a record number of mammal captures, so it was fortunate having the Youth Rangers to carry out the brunt of the work!

This group did an awesome job, becoming efficient at emptying each trap carefully into a bag, recording the weight and sex of the critter before releasing it out and finally resetting the trap. I was impressed by how well they communicated with each other and minimised the stress to these small furry beasts. Here's a selection of what we came across...

Bank Vole (Clethrionomys glareolus)

Bank Vole (Clethrionomys glareolus)

Wood Mouse (Apodemus sylvaticus)

Yellow-necked Mouse (Apodemus flavicollis) with distinctive yellow collar across the chest

Wood Mouse (Apodemus sylvaticus), back out to freedom

Out of the 28 traps, almost every single one had triggered overnight (a few possibly accountable to intrepid slugs), 19 of them containing a small rodent. We found 3 different species, the commonest being Wood Mouse with 14 individuals counted.
  .

Checking our Hedgehog tracking pads

Lots of tiny tracks which are much too small for Hedgehog, so most likely Wood Mouse or Bank Vole

But the work did not stop there, as I wanted to get my money's worth out of this keen bunch! We also checked the Hedgehog tracking tunnels and cracked on with building the new stands for future Harvest Mouse surveys (an idea we blatantly plagiarised from the Surrey Mammal Group - thanks again Jim!).

Creating Harvest Mouse trap stands

I had also set up a camera trap in a hidden part of the woods, as I am keen to finally pick up recorded evidence of Gatwick's Badgers. We trekked over to the site and found that our badgery lure of raisins and peanuts had all been hoovered up, so it was with excitement that we played back the camera footage....

Tip: when setting up a camera trap, check the batteries are working.

...my bad. Still, it's always a good day out with the Gatwick Greenspace Partnership volunteers and I'm lucky to work with such an ecclectic bunch of people of all ages. Thanks again to everyone involved: Tom S, Tom F and the Sussex Mammal Group for lending your time and equipment, and finally to all of you teens - you're al'ight, yeah.

  If you or anyone you know is interested in local wildlife and conservation around the Gatwick area, check out the Gatwick Greenspace Partnership webpage

March Summary

I have massively enjoyed my job this past month, despite being ill for approximately half of it!

Tom S. and Gilly, checking on their passengers after a short ride in the Gatwick Greenspace truck

We have some new workers on board with the project, with 3 bee hives installed in Ashley's Field. Inevitably, the bee-puns are flying back and forth and the staff are buzzing with excitement. Anyway, I shan't drone on as there will be more from Tom on that subject later!

Gatwick's Honey Bees, ready and raring to go...

We have carried out some further 'hibernacularing' with the help of Scotty T. I am getting a bit obsessed with diggers and could watch them for hours... 

Despite a wet spell at the beginning of the month, we've still managed to get all of our Black Poplar planted along the River Mole in the nick of time. Thanks again to the Security Leadership Team!

This past month, our surveys have been rather mammal focused. Here, George and Laurie are checking Dormouse boxes. The only occupant we found on this day was a chunky little Yellow-necked Mouse (Apodemus flavicollis).

George and Laurie

George and Louise also helped with installing some Hedgehog tracking tunnels in Goat Meadow. I am trying a selection of different baits to see whether we can entice a range of mammals to leave their inky footprints behind.

In the lead up to our Youth Ranger mammal surveying event, my mum and I have been out most mornings and evenings setting out longworth traps so that our small mammals could acclimatise to them. We found an intense number of Wood Mice (Apodemus sylvaticus), which would happily pop back into the traps as soon as we had reset them! I will reveal our final peak count in the next post.

Wood Mouse (Apodemus sylvaticus)

 Tom F. demonstrating how to gently scruff a Bank Vole (Clethrionomys glareolus)

Now I feel like it really is spring when Cuckoo Flower, aka Lady's-Smock (Cardamine pratensis) comes into flower. It means the Orange Tip Butterflies will soon be out in force!

I vastly underestimated the size of the Grass Snake in Goat Meadow; we saw her again a few days ago and she was more like 2 meters long. I really have to work on my estimations! This much smaller specimen was found under a refugia near Man's Brook... 

Grass Snake, around 30cm in length (maybe)

I spotted our first Gatwick Grass Snake of 2014 on March 5th. I looked up my past reptile records on the iRecord website and found last year's was on April 15th, so they seem to be active much earlier this year.

It's Mother's Day today, and I wouldn't be here and doing this job it wasn't for the support and help of my most excellent mum, Sue. So a massive thanks to you Mum and keep up the good work!