Small Mammals at Ledston Luck

In September 2014 I helped survey Ledston Luck nature reserve with the Yorkshire Mammal Group - in fact it was my first event with them and on the site. On a single overnight session, five species were caught in the Longworth traps: wood mouse, field vole, bank vole, common shrew and water shrew. After being gently examined and carefully recorded, all were released unharmed back into the wild.

YWT has lots of improvements planned for the site, including cattle grazing to help manage the grassland. With lots of work and management going on, reserves manager Kate is keen to engage the local people by getting them involved and showing what's on the site. With this in mind, I agreed to help her run another small mammal session.

We decided to survey a different part of the site, and focused on three different habitats at the southern end of the reserve. These were:

1. Tall grass and hawthorn scrub near centre of limestone plateau
2. Semi-mature woodland with grass and bramble ground flora
3. Meadow area of knee-height grass and wild flowers close to the boundary with the industrial units and alongside a damp ditch

On Friday evening several volunteers from YWT and the University of Leeds MSc group helped to set up the traps, and learned a bit about survey protocols. They were shown how to construct and set the traps which were baited with a mix of bird seed, oats, raisins, peanuts, apple and blowfly pupae. A ball of hay was added for insulative bedding. The traps were placed on site along transects, and clearly marked with biodegradable tape so that we could find them again in the morning.

Early on Saturday morning we returned to check the traps. Just three of the traps had sprung, with a wood mouse and two common shrews caught. There were no signs of small mammals at site 1. Those traps were moved to the other side of the plateau near a reed bed, to try and increase our chance of catching something the next day. The traps were locked open during the day, with a visit planned that evening to re-bait and set the traps. However, heavy rainstorms flooded local roads and we were unable to reach the site to reset the traps.

Plan B saw Kate and myself on site early on Sunday morning to set and bait the traps. The previous days storms were a distant memory, and it was a lovely warm and sunny day. None of the local villagers unfortunately showed up, but keen members from the LAV volunteers met up at lunchtime to check the traps and collect them in. Site 1 again yielded no results, though bank voles and common shrews were found in the other two areas. Everyone got the chance to practice emptying the traps, handling the mammals, weighing them, and trying to identify their gender.

There was some excitement in the woodland when we thought we had caught a pygmy shrew, which would have been a new site record. However when weighed it was 8.5 grams, which although it seems very light is still heavy for a pygmy shrew as these are normally 6 grams at the most. Given the colour of the fur, on reflection it was more likely to be a juvenile common shrew. (Photo credit: Wilf Greenman).

The overall trap rate was just 17%, which is low compared to the 56% achieved in 2014. This may have been down to the appalling weather overnight and the relatively short time that traps were set on the second day. 

But although there were fewer animals caught than we had hoped, at least we did get to see some small mammals up close. It was good to meet up with some of the students on my upcoming MSc course, and the volunteers learned how to set the traps, handle animals safely and learnt a bit more about the species that can be found on site.