Dormice

Posted in Hydro on Wednesday 24th October 2018 at 12:56pm

One of the warm and fuzzy stories of Old Walls Hydro was the arboreal link we had to maintain as part of our planning permission to ensure the future family connections for dormice across the leat. We have many sections of our woodland that is rich in Hazel trees and coppiced hazel which produce copious amounts of hazel nuts. The nuts prove very popular for both dormice and squirrels amongst other creatures. In the picture there are hazel nuts newly fallen from the tree which are whole; others crunched open with abandon, evidence of hungry squirrels and lastly, tidily opened nuts left from the dormice. The hole excavated by the dormice is circular with a smooth inner rim and if you look really closely you can see the teeth marks running at an angle to the hole. Old Walls dormice are obviously thriving!