Keswick-based University of Cumbria PhD student Rachel Findlay-Robinson is looking into how climate change is affecting the tiny and lovable British dormouse, which has suffered a massive 51 percent drop in its population since 2000.
Rachel is investigating reintroduction programmes for the minute mammal including bringing the hazel dormouse, no bigger than eight centimetres long and weighing in at around 20 grammes, back to northern England. The tiny tot rodents were traditionally seen across England and Wales.
According to State of Britain’s Dormice 2019 report, over half the population has disappeared in the past 20-years and the hazel is now extinct in 12 English counties.
Studying in her final year of doctorate at the university’s Ambleside campus, Rachel said while Wales still has populations, the rest were largely confined to southern England. “A big 72 percent decline occurred between 1992 and 2014. Since 2000, numbers have carried on decreasing by around 3.8 percent every year,” she added.
Hazel dormice will feature in a forthcoming four-year National Lottery Heritage Fund Back on our Map (BooM) project to reinstate threatened species in South Cumbria.
Although there are 29 different species worldwide, the hazel is the only UK native. Dormice are a good indicator of the health of our and do best when woods are well-managed, have good undergrowth and a variety of plants for food, says Rachel, who is working on long-term data analysis with Covid-19 interrupting field studies.
The People’s Trust for Endangered Species (PTES) is at the forefront of dormouse conservation in the UK and are funding the fieldwork part of Rachel’s research.
Find out more on https://ptes.org/campaigns/dormice/
