The Edible Dormouse Experience

For ease of blogging i'm going to have to extend the boundaries of my blog and rebrand, maybe calling it 'Go Wild in Kent and Beyond' as it sounds suitably Buzz Lightyear

So on September 6th, myself and Lisa had the opportunity to go to the Chilterns and help out with a group of volunteers who have been monitoring an area of woodland that holds around 180 edible dormouse nest boxes.

We were in the good company of dormouse expert, Pat Morris who having studied these wonderful animals locally for around 14 years was in the process of handing over the monitoring scheme. The monitoring process is based on volunteers who come and go, so having some folks turn up from the Kent Mammal Group was an opportunity not to be missed.

The Edible Dormouse (Glis glis) was introduced by Lord Rothschild around 1902 to the area of Tring. No one knows how many were released but since then numbers have gradually built up but remained within a rough 30Km radius. Pat explained to us that although and introduced species and having the dubious honor of being regarded as a pest they are fully protected but once caught it is illegal to release them back into the wild unless under license. So why would you catch them, well they have this habit of appearing in peoples homes and causing a great deal of damage. Some folks have done the release deed and Pat mentioned that they are now appearing in the New Forest and possibly even Essex.

Difficult to see in the wild, a nocturnal and highly arboreal species, this lactating female had managed to escape from the monitoring team and looked back for her young which were being placed back into the nestbox and quickly put back onto the correct tree, ready for her to re-join them.

Unlike Hazel Dormouse nest boxes, those of Edible are more bird box in design and have a side or front facing entrance hole. In the Autumn the dormice really start to pack on the weight and will make the entrance hole larger to accommodate their ever increasing girth. The nest is made up of dry leaves with an inner ball of sawdust.

Sometimes when approaching a nextbox a cute little face would appear at the entrance.


We started to help out with the nest box monitoring and the number of young we came across were all ages from the allmost newborn to almost old enough to leave the nest.



Except for the very young, each one had to be sexed, weighed and chipped. The chipping is a research technique that will hopefully answer a number of questions about dispersal and longevitity. Certainly one of the recaptures was at least 9 years old. Nests contained upto 11 young in some cases and the plastic bags into which we emptied the box contents were a wriggle of bodies.

The same sort of chipping process as used for cats and dogs.


Once the chip had been implanted then a scanner was used to check that it worked. Each chip would uniquely identify the individual.

For such a small mammal they can have a fierce manner and in some cases when checking nextbox contents a sort of light growling eminated from inside and they have sharp teeth, so thick gloves are essential for handling.



Life for such a cute animal remains a tough one. Historically the Romans used to eat them and keep them in jars whilst fattening them up, even today in eastern Europe they continue to be caught for food.

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Trosley Country Park

Despite the reasonably strong wind the sunny weather (and all of Greenies excellent butterfly posts) found me at Trosley Country Park over lunchtime. I checked out the ride where I have seen violet helleborine in the past and there are at least 6 good plants that I reckon in a week or so will looking their best. On the sunny south facing slopes above Trottiscliffe chalk hill blues (30) were out in force along with meadow browns(40), ringlets (20), gatekeepers(5) and small (4) and large whites (8). I then saw what I'm sure was a white admiral flying up the slope along the edge of a bramble hedge toward the wood at the top. A first for me at Trosley and I'm not sure whether they do actually occur there. Back in the woods and walking to the cafe I heard around 3 crossbills but couldn't see them, not until a hot brew and bakewell tart were being enjoyed did a further 3 crossbills fly across the car park clearing. Walking back to the car I noticed a small female type adder curled up next to some refugia. All in all a great couple of hours.

Also had an adult Med gull flying over Longfield yesterday, they seem to be getting more frequent in the area.

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Longfield - Garden

On Friday I noticed my first hummingbird hawk moth of the year feeding on the valerian and also had a hornet inspect the lounge and then return back to the garden via the open patio doors. I think we passed inspection. Not something I see very often but always an impressive insect.

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June Round Up

The month started off with a visit to Jeskyns where I went for a wander around the orchard an area that I had not visited before. I had a number of small heath butterflies along one of the paths but my attention was drawn to the calls of up to 6 Mediterranean gulls circling overhead and then drifting off west before returning again. I thought to myself that it wouldn't be long before I started to see them over Longfield. Well I didn't have long to wait, in fact early the next morning (2nd June) I had two adults circling over my garden calling and this then occurred regularly for the rest of that week and then none since. When I lived in Hampshire, I can remember when Med gull was something of a scarcity, although they had already started to breed in the county albeit in very small numbers. I saw my first one at Fareham Creek and marvelled at how David Billet the warden of Farlington Marshes was able to pick one up by call one day. Back in Longfield that same morning I heard a turtle dove calling from the garden, so two garden ticks in one morning, nice.

For once, just slightly outside of the county, I went across the Bay of Biscay mid month as team leader for a whale and dolphin survey on behalf of Organisation Cetacea, a charity I volunteer for. The surveys are great as we have access to the bridge of the Pont Avon, the commercial passenger ferry that runs from Plymouth to Santander in north Spain and then back to Portsmouth. We had very calm sea states for the whole crossing and whilst seeing 5 species of cetacean I would have expected to see more given the calm seas. However we did have an amazing encounter with a super pod of common dolphins of around 1,000 animals with some groups of 20-30 coming into the bow of the vessel. I managed to get a shot of 2 out of the 1,000.

Common Dolphin

I know of two locations in Kent where you stand a chance of seeing meadow clary an interesting looking plant of chalk downland and overgrown grassy verges. Some UK range maps of the species do not even show Kent as having any plants and I know that at one site a couple of years ago flowering plants were dug up. Its name comes from 'clear-eye', and an infusion was traditionally used as an eye-wash, particularly in the days when smoke from indoor fires made the eyes smart.
Meadow Clary

I remember that about 3 years ago was the summer of the bee orchid, they seemed to appear in large numbers in locations where normally only a few emerged. This year, I must admit to having struggled to find that many. However there is an amazing roadside orchid experience that can be had near Tyland Barn on the A229 and this year the spectacle of common spotted orchids was amazing and whilst checking this out I came across small numbers of bee orchids and it started raining. To the passing traffic, I must have looked an odd sight on the roadside, bent down, bottom in the air in the pouring rain....but what a wonderful looking flower.
Bee Orchid

A very similar looking orchid and member of the Ophrys group is the late spider orchid, a rare UK orchid species, whose origins in Kent are unknown. However in the east of the county a small population occurs and I had almost left it too late in the month to visit the site.
Late Spider Orchid

The small populations are protected by cages to try and keep rabbits from taking a nibble, looks to me like plant prison.

I've started to build up a portfolio of photos for submission to an agency and looking at their submission guidelines I've discovered that a lot of my older photos are not up to spec. Luckily my new camera purchased earlier in the year just reaches the minimum pixel size required and this has meant that I've had to re-visit a number of locations to try and build up a collection of stock shots. One thing on my hit list was field poppy and as I was driving around the county I kept on the lookout for any red fields of poppies. Eventually I found some probably the best fields I had ever seen, my problem was that getting too them wasn't going to be easy. The best route was a non starter, a footpath from a church carpark would have taken me straight to the site within minutes but a wedding had filled the car park and being in a village with narrow lanes there was no other safe place to park up. Eventually I found a small pull in and another footpath in a village a mile or so away and yomped back to the poppy fields in the June heat. It was worth it, what a sight, I'm not sure what the original crop was as it was hard to make out given the number of poppies, just stunning.
Field Poppy

When I can, I continue to wander around the local area and it was this time last year that I discovered a Kent Wildlife Trust roadside nature reserve near Longfield railway station. To my amazement the bank next to the road contained many pyramidal orchids although by the time I discovered this they had gone over. This year I kept going back checking on the status of the orchids and eventually got a count of 556 plants, just incredible and only 5 minutes from my front door, how lucky is that! Opposite the main bank on the other side of the road is an area of grass that has been left to grow and looks to be turning into a verge side meadow, and I thought there had to be more pyramidal orchids in there somewhere. One morning I decided to check it out and sure enough a few pyramidal orchids where hiding within the tall grass but to my astonishment I found over 20 bee orchids and not just small ones, these boys had between 6-8 flowers on them and were over foot tall. I now have 5 species of orchid that I can easily see within walking distance of my house, just cannot believe it.
The roadside verge nature reserve, pyramidal orchids on the left, bee orchids on the right!
Bee Orchid - Longfield

I have managed to get a bit of mothing under the belt as well adding a few new species to the garden moth list including this excellent beastie called peach blossom. I think the patterning reminds me of some mid seventies curtain material, sorry mum!
Peach Blossom

This one is a local rarity that I tend to catch maybe once every 3 years called small ranunculus. At one time it had been considered extinct for 50 years and then started to turn up in a few localities in Essex and Kent with one of them being Gravesend.
Small Ranunculus

I have a lot of ivy in my garden so it is no real surprise that I catch this beautiful moth called swallowtail as ivy is their preferred food plant.
Swallowtail Moth

Early one morning I decided to visit Lullingstone Country Park to check out the dark green fritillary butterflies and orchid situation. Whilst the fragrant orchids had gone over there were many dark green fritillaries on the wing and I was able to locate two mating individuals at the base of some long grass. They allowed me to get very close, in fact by moving slowly I was able to get close enough to start taking photos using my macro lens and at one point was able to get below the pair to give the odd 'stained glass window' shot.
Dark Green Fritillary

The 'stained glass window' shot.

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May Round Up

For the past couple of years, May has been a a very plant focused month for me and this year has been no exception, although I feel that this year many orchids are coming into their best a week earlier than in previous years. There is a very small piece of managed common land within a few minutes walk from my front door called Rectory Meadow, on which, last year I counted over 100 spikes of man orchid, and whilst trying to get some photos it rained. This year I counted 61 spikes and once again whilst trying to get some photos it decided to rain! Still I'm getting to grips with man handling my benbo tripod, which for those in the know is a bit like handling a metal octopus but my results are getting better (I think?)
Man Orchid

A trip to Queendown Warren, to check out the state of the various spring time orchid species there had me looking at a chalk downland plant called sainfoin. I'd never really looked at it too closely but the delicate stripey flowers are wonderful. I'll hopefully be going back this weekend to have another look.
Sainfoin

Early in the morning at Queendown, I noticed a good stand of houndstongue which was just alive with bees. I decided to sit on the edge of the stand and with my macro lens try to get some shots of the action. Most of the images came out blurry as it wasn't really possible to use a tripod but one or two were in focus. In the early morning sunshine and sat in the middle of loads of furry bumble bees it was an excellent wildlife moment.

Mixed in with the bumblebees I noticed this hoverfly bee mimic Volucella bombylans, this one is the variant plumata. The larvae feed on the debris in bee and wasp nests.
Volucella bombylans

There are quite a few good sites in Kent for fly orchid, the shot below is from Queendown Warren and the plant was tiny with the flower head almost parallel to the ground surface so making it easier to get a good macro shot with most of the flower in focus.
Fly Orchid

White helleborine is another relatively common orchid species in Kent and seems to favour shady areas under beech trees. My very first encounter was only a couple of years ago and after finding my first plant I waited for the flowers to open only to find that the flowers subsequently went over. It wasn't after reading up on the species that I came to understand that they barely open their flower heads at all, so since then I have always been on the lookout for individuals that break the rules and show me what is inside the white flower head. Once again at Queendown there was an excellent variety of flowers in bloom and it is getting better each year here as a result of the scrub management that is being done. I found this one with a slightly open flower head.
White Helleborine

I almost missed the spectacle that is Marden Meadow and the green-winged orchids. By the time I got there many of the orchids had passed their best but after a bit of wandering around I did manage to find a few plants that were still in their prime. The orchids at Marden are photographed to death and trying to think of new ways to get an interesting shot was a challenge for me but once again I got down low and looked upwards and managed to get a blue sky background.
Green-winged Orchid

I also found this white form of green-winged orchid, hopefully next year if it flowers I can get a shot of it in it's prime.

The trouble is the orchid spectacle is so amazing that you just get carried away and take loads of pictures.

I know of a couple of sites in north kent where you can see birds-nest orchid and at one of the sites a single flower had appeared in a new location. Lacking chlorophyll they initially look bland for an orchid but when you get in close the flower structure is quite amazing.
Birds-nest Orchid

Lesser butterfly orchids are tricky to see in Kent, being very local and scarce. Luckily there is one reliable site in north Kent and this year the flowers seemed to be well advanced by the time I got to see them. To me, along with the greater butterfly orchid, the flowers seem to be more angel like than butterfly.
Lesser Butterfly Orchid

At one site, it was possible to see fly, lady and lesser butterfly all within an area of a couple of feet. Some of the best lady orchid sites are in the east of the county but there is one reliable area in north Kent that generally holds 20 or so flowers. This plant had a large white butterfly holding on in the stiff breeze.
Lady Orchid and Large White Butterfly

Finally at the same site there was a great example of a fly orchid, with over 6 flowers along the stem.
Fly Orchid

I have also been wandering around the local Longfield area and there have been some impressive buttercup displays. Not sure what species these beetles are but I found them crammed into the buttercup flower head early one morning.

The background of the shot below is a densely packed field of buttercups and I'm pleased with the way I have managed to isolate this individual flower head.

A nice beechwood nearby is host to several hundred early purple orchids set amongst bluebell stands. Wandering around I located this white version of the early purple orchid, in fact I think it is the first white version I've seen along with the green-winged orchid.
Early Purple Orchid

Once section of bluebells is reasonably dense and I just love the rich greens of the beech foliage.

In some places there are groups of early purple orchids and this plant was one of the tallest and most impressive flower head.

Longfield chalkbank is a Kent Wildlife Trust reserve. To be honest it is really a small grassy bank with a tiny bit of woodland and whilst being a lovely wild space that is home to slow worms, lizards and grass snakes some of the locals don't respect it and rubbish and dog mess is commonplace. Probably the most amazing thing about the tiny reserve is that it holds one of the few populations in the UK of grey mouse ear a small plant that I have yet to find there. My challenge is that common mouse ear also occurs on the reserve and is, well, common! I'm also struggling with the id features for grey mouse ear as never having seen one, finding a satisfactory picture is hard and I've certainly picked an id challenge for a plant novice.
This is a picture of a common mouse ear, the flowers do open up more but the key features are the white/silvery edges to the sepals i.e. the green bits that cover the white flower petals and the length of the sepals to the flower petals. In grey mouse ear, the sepals have green edges and the sepals are longer than the flower petals, I think! There is also a difference with something called a bract but for the life of me I cannot fathom it out. Still, if everything was easy to identify then life would be that much duller.

Common Mouse Ear

Another place I have visited is Shorne Marshes always good for marsh frog and hairy dragonfly.
I believe that the RSPB are doing a good job in developing the grazing marsh for waders and I unexpectedly came across this little ringed plover which just dropped into a muddy area just long enough for me to get a shot before heading off.
Little Ringed Plover

This is the second time I have been able to get close to a hairy dragonfly at Shorne.
Hairy Dragonfly

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Painted Ladies

This is a painted lady butterfly taken at Queendown Warren in June 2006, normally I see around 10 or so a year on my travels in Kent. Today at Reculver I counted 109 in a 3 hour period and I wasn't really paying that much attention. I gather that many are being seen around the county and we are enjoying an influx of this non resident, migratory species. Taking advantage of being in the east of the county I then moved onto Grove Ferry and connected with the long staying black winged pratincole along with a further 20 painted lady butterflies. I think it could be a very good year for this species in the U.K, at last!

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Solitary Bees

I've been mostly in the garden today and noticed that there was some activity around the bee tubes. 3 solitary bees which I think are leaf cutters were busy in and out of some of the tubes for most of the afternoon.

I've certainly had some success over the years since putting the tubes out and noticed red mason bees as well as these leaf cutters in evidence. Earlier in the year though I was a little concerned to notice a parasite in the form of a small red eyed fly called Cacoxenu indagator around the tubes. In fact I think that several tubes had been suffered parasitism as small holes had appeared in the mud casings and freshly emerged flies were sat around the entrances. There were 6 flies watching the 3 bees going about their business and I must admit that the 6 flies are no more, I'm hoping that they didn't get a chance to lay any eggs in the tubes the bees were working on.

The bees will create upto 6-8 cells, each partitioned from its neighbours with mud or leaves and containing an egg sealed in with enough pollen to see the larva through its growth and development. The larva becomes an adult around mid-September and remains in a cocoon over the winter, biting its way out in the early spring. The bee at the back of the tube is the oldest and is the first to be ready to emerge in late March-early April. It bites through the partition of the cell in front and then bites through the cocoon and nips the rump of the bee inside, waking it from hibernation. This bee then repeats the process until all the bees are awake and ready to exit the nest tube.

You can see a parasitic fly waiting in the tube in the top right of the picture.

April Roundup

A different blog approach for me, with an April roundup of images and narrative, just so I can spend less time in front of the PC and more time out in the field.

In early April, I decided to try and look for some wild daffodils, never having really given them a second thought before. I have a copy of the Atlas of Kent Flora, which I was given a long time ago and checking out the dots on the appropriate map it looked like there is a site quite close to Longfield. A check on on O/S map for a suitable looking woodland and before I knew it I had arrived at Cobham Woods and got lost wandering about the various tracks. I did find some daffodils in the woodland but they looked very cultivated to me and I started to give up hope. I was on my way back to the car having now wandered around for a couple of miles and by this time had forgotten about any daffodils when suddenly I noticed four right by the side of the path and they just had to be the wild variety.

I was quite excited by the find as my investigation and ability to look for suitable woodland habitat had paid off. Generally wild daffodils have a greyish cast to the petals which are very upright and not so tall as the cultivated varieties, so fingers crossed I got it right.

The next day, Lisa and I returned just for a local wander through the same woodland which also backs onto Ranscombe Farm. What should I then find on the walk but loads of wild daffodils in reasonably large groups and I hadn't taken my camera! Oh well at least I know where to go now and it is a local site for me, something for next year.

From Cobham village the main track into the woods had a good hedge of blackthorn which in early April was in full bloom and on a sunny day attracted this peacock.

A little bit of damage on one of the hind wings but otherwise a stunner and in my opinion one of the best European butterflies.

Although I have been putting my moth trap out on a few nights during the month, I haven't really been having that much success, only catching a handful of moths. One of the nicest looking catches was the herald.

This common moth is one of the few species in the UK that overwinters as an adult. During the day it tends to favour resting in dead leaves.
For the regulars to my blog, they know that I visit the Kent Wildlife Trust reserve at Queendown Warren quite a lot. The reserve has a very good flora, especially orchids and one of the first orchid species to come into flower there is the early spider.

The population of early spiders on the reserve is quite small, I've probably only seen maybe a dozen at the most in some years and they tend to be very small plants, certainly compared to those that occur at Samphire Hoe. It is always a challenge to try and find them even if you know the spots where they occur and no matter how often I see them I always find the delicate flower heads just amazing. The orchid in the photo above had its flower head facing upward rather than parallel with the stem which made it ideal to try and photograph. I went back to look for the same plant in late April and found that the stem had been nibbled and broken and the flower head had lost its colour. This had probably been done by one of the local rabbits but you cannot be mad at them as they do a good job in keeping the grass low on the chalk bank where the plants occur. If the grass and invasive/aggressive plants took a hold then the wonderful plant diversity wouldn't exist.
I also cannot mention Queendown without another pic of an adder, this one a male, catching the suns warmth.

By the end of the month the adders I had been regularly seeing there had dispersed as on a couple of trips I couldn't find one in the usual places. The dispersal of the males and females is a usual event but generally occurs a little later in the spring, maybe the warmer April days had encouraged them to move on earlier.
On my last visit to Queendown in late April I wanted to try and get some photos of green hairstreak as I've found this site to be excellent for getting very good close up views of them. In fact I've challenged myself to get a close up shot of one with a 60mm macro lens but haven't quite managed it yet. An early morning walk through the brambles in Potters Wood resulted in a couple of green-veined whites, one of which posed nicely.

I then moved onto the main bank and in the sunshine it wasn't too long before I noticed a green hairstreak feeding on the common milkwort.

I think these small butterflies are full of character, with their black and white banded antennae and white furry bodies contrasting with the iridescent green on the wings.

Well that was it for April, it is now May 1st and I should be going out soon.

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Longfield - Moths

With the nights remaining above freezing and despite the cold mornings the number of moth species on the wing is increasing. Over the weekend I managed to run the mv trap for a night and caught 6 moths of 5 species.
Early Grey

One of the odd plume moth species with the great Latin name of Platyptilia gonodactyla, certainly you'd be forgiven for thinking it was some sort of duck-billed pterodactyl. The wings of this group of moths are split into fingers, or plumes and are held out in this characteristic T shape.

Funkiest moth of the night award goes to the two male muslin moths, bad hair day or what!

Great antennae though.

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Queendown Warren

Back to Queendown again but the morning was much colder and far less sunny than I expected. Still I managed to find one adder in the overcast conditions and once the sun finally emerged a total of 3 males and a single female. Many bumble bees and bee-flies and having read Steve's New Hythe blog I was on the lookout for dotted bee-fly and without too much difficulty I was surprised to find one. Albeit the only one I saw amongst the more common Bombylius major.
Dotted Bee-fly

The adders definitely appeared not to like the cold and this small male whilst trying to gather the most of the mornings heat looked decidedly chilly to me as it tightly rapped its coils together. The blue cast over the eye is a sign that it will soon shed its skin, called sloughing, normally the eyes are a lovely red in colour.

I believe that their normally excellent eyesight is diminished during this process and you'll be pleased to know that it remained in this exact location both before, during and after the shots were taken. Plenty of gulls around as well including a couple of adult Med gulls.

Is it me or are the carpets of wood anemones not quite as good this year?

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