Dormouse reintroduction in Brampton Wood - celebrating a 30 year success - Wildlife Trust for Beds, Cambs & Northants
Hazel dormice were reintroduced at Brampton Wood 30 years ago - the first ever UK reintroduction - and the population thrives to this day. Now a new batch has been added - the class of 2023 meets that of 1993. A species in national decline, this has proved a success story to cheer
Back in 1993 a group of biologists and volunteers gathered in Brampton Wood, Cambridgeshire for a UK first – the release of hazel dormice in the original reintroduction of the species. The Wildlife Trust for Beds, Cambs and Northants (WTBCN) had bought this ancient woodland in 1992, successfully fundraising to purchase it from the MOD, just in time to provide ideal habitat for dormice a year later.
The descendants of this first population at Brampton Wood, sourced from Somerset, are still going strong to this day and have now expanded beyond the perimeter, found in the hedgerows beyond the wood; woodland restoration and maintenance work by the Trust during the last 30 years has provided the optimum dense habitat mix for the species to flourish.
An additional seven dormice have now been added to increase the genetic diversity of the existing population, as part of a nationwide annual dormouse reintroduction programme managed by wildlife charity People’s Trust for Endangered Species (PTES). According to PTES’ State of Britain’s Dormice 2019 report, nationwide populations declined by a staggering 51% since 2000 and dormice are considered extinct in 17 English counties.
Biologist and zoologist Dr Pat Morris oversaw the initial programme on behalf of the now defunct Nature Conservancy Council, with six years of research subsequent to the 1993 release: “The NCC wanted to understand if dormice were rare – and if so then why? They were looking to reestablish the species in counties that had lost populations during the last 100 years – 1908 was the last record for any in Cambridgeshire.”
Posted On: 12/09/2023
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