Autumn activities on the League Against Cruel Sports’ wildlife reserves

October is time for the last check of the year for the hazel dormouse boxes on the League Against Cruel Sports’ wildlife reserves, and we never quite know what we will find. The birds’ nests and bees’ nests from earlier in the year will be gone, but, as well as dormice, there is still the chance of finding wood mice and pygmy shrews, in addition to a range of invertebrates. The results from the survey feed into the National Dormouse Monitoring Programme, which helps assess the status of dormice across the country.

We don’t survey in summer to avoid disturbing very young dormice, and so October brings the first opportunity to see how the dormice are faring. Unfortunately, one of our woodlands was badly damaged when essential work was carried out on overhead powerlines, which has resulted in dormice leaving the site, at least temporarily. However, the hot and dry summer has led to an abundance of fruit and nuts that the dormice feed on and so generally speaking, dormice on the wildlife reserves are doing well.

The most exciting find this year was three very fat dormice squeezed into the same nest box. They were so rotund they couldn’t fit into their carefully woven nest and when I returned them to the box after weighing and sexing them, they could barely get through the entrance hole. Their fat reserves are very important, as the dormice will need all their resources to see them through hibernation to next spring.

The red deer rut is well underway on the League’s wildlife reserves, and the nighttime air is filled with the guttural roaring of stags, as they compete to mate with the hinds. The master stag on Baronsdown has already been deposed by a feistier opponent and he is now hanging out on the periphery with younger and smaller stags. You can be sure that he won’t give up on the hinds easily, and when he has recovered his composure, he may well make another challenge. It’s all part of an annual autumn drama that is much more thrilling than anything you will see on TV or at the cinema because you can actually smell and feel the atmosphere.

We manage the League Against Cruel Sports’ wildlife reserves to help all wildlife, not only deer and the other victims of hunting and the shooting industry, and we are very grateful to our generous supporters who enable us to continue this vital work.