Land Mammal Identification - Days 2 & 3

On Sunday we spent a full day on site at Preston Montford. Over the course of the day, we set and revisited the small mammal traps several times and had better results, proving that acclimitising the traps beforehand does work. The animals had had chance to go into the traps without setting them off, and got a nice free meal of oats, seeds, raisin etc, as well as a warm bed and shelter for the night. A few had even moved in and lined the tubes with their own vegetation!

Along the farm track we caught several bank voles, and also captured a Wood Mouse and the slightly rarer Pygmy Shrew.  We had the chance to handle the animals and have a go at sexing them. We also placed out some footprint tunnels that we made out of drainpipe, felt and food colouring, to see if any other species would be tempted in.

Our focus for Sunday was on medium and large sized mammals though. Obviously these are bigger, often more elusive, and not easy to trap. We therefore learnt about the other ways of identifying them, namely field signs.  We had a couple of short walks around the grounds looking for field signs and did some footprint analysis. In the afternoon we carried out dietary analysis, which basically involving mushing up some poop in water, smelling it, then looking at it under the microscope. It was amazing what you could learn with a bit of knowledge - you can identify the fish species eaten from the shape of the scale, and the family of bird from the shape of the node on a feather.

Each evening we had a short lecture about one of the three protected species in the UK. On Sunday, we learned more about otters and had some myths dispelled.

Later on in the evening, around dusk, we went out and watched the bats emerge from the stable block and fly around the woodland track. These were mostly Soprano Pipistrelle. However our main aim was to see badgers, so we quietly walked through the woods and sat on a ridge overlooking the sett. We had also set up a camera trap to try and capture any action. We sat there for around half an hour, but at that time of night the light plays tricks with your eyes and I wasn't sure if I had seen anything or not! The camera trap didn't pick anything up, so we think the badgers used a different entrance and avoided their audience. So I have still yet to see a live badger!

Our final day, Monday, was focused on feeding remains. We had a look at marks typically left by squirrels on pine cones. Our main focus though was on dormice, the third of our protected species.  At the start of the day, we had a short lecture on bite marks and looked at hazlenuts and how different species opened these.  We then travelled to Wenlock Edge, about half an hours drive away, to carry out a survey.  The procedure is to spend twenty minutes within a given area looking for feeding signs, ie. a hazlenut with a characteristic offset hole with a smooth inner rim.  I found a dormouse hazlenut within about ten seconds, but it was fun looking for other examples and those made by other species. We managed to find hazlenuts eaten by squirrels, birds, bank voles and wood mice for comparison.

We returned to the centre and after lunch had the dreaded end of course assessment. This consisted of a photographic identification of eight species, then identification of a further eight by field signs.  I felt fairly confident with the test, but won't get the result for a month or so. 

The second part of our assignment is to carry out a full mammal survey. I am actually quite excited about this, and have made arrangement to meet up with another student and carry out the fieldwork jointly at her nature reserve. We then just have to write up the results and submit our report by the end of September.

I think this has been my favorite MMU module so far, and I am looking forward to getting involved in more small mammal fieldwork in the future.