Hazel Dormouse Surveys

Pioneer Environment’s team has extensive expertise in surveying and safeguarding dormice and their natural habitats. If your development project could disturb dormice, their breeding sites, or any other protected species, contact us today for guidance on the steps you’ll need to take.

Why Do You Need a Dormouse Survey?

Hazel dormice Muscardinus avellanarius, their breeding sites and resting places are protected in the UK under the Wildlife and Countryside Act 1981. If you do not abide by this legislation, you can be fined or imprisoned.

You are breaking the law if you:

Deliberately capture, injure or kill hazel dormice

Damage or destroy a dormouse resting place or breeding site

Deliberately or recklessly disturb a hazel dormouse while it’s in a structure or place of shelter or protection

Block access to structures or places of shelter or protection

Possess, sell, control or transport live or dead hazel dormice, or parts of hazel dormice

You will need to carry out a dormouse survey if there are records suggesting that dormice may be present and/or the development will affect an area of woodland, hedgerow or scrub that is suitable dormouse habitat.

Hazel Dormouse peeking out of nest in a nest box. Box is in a clear plastic bag used for surveying.

Sleeping hazel dormouse being held in a gloved hand

Dormouse tube attached to hazel branch for surveying purposes

When to Carry Out a Survey

Dormice are nocturnal and hibernate from October to April, so surveys need to be carried out outside of this period.

There are three types of dormouse survey:

Nest box surveys

Nest tubes surveys

Nut search surveys

Nest box and nest tube surveys involve placing boxes and tubes in suitable habitats like hedgerows and woodland over several months. Nut searches look for nuts gnawed by dormice, which are easy to spot because the pattern their teeth make is distinct from other nut-eating mammals, like squirrels.

Take a look at our survey calendar for more information.

SURVEY CALENDAR

Two sleeping dormice being held in gloved hands

What Will Pioneer Supply?

Our surveys, suitable for works that only involve losing a small amount of habitat, include visual searches for nests and opened nuts. If the work is more extensive, we will use nest tubes and nest boxes to gather data. Our survey results will inform the likely impact on the dormouse population and, where appropriate, offer mitigation measures and management of the site.

About Hazel Dormice

Hazel dormice Muscardinus avellanarius are members of the rodent family and are the only British mammal with a hairy tail. Dormice have relatively small territories, with a male’s being around 0.5 hectares, overlapping with several females of 0.2 hectares each. Once widespread throughout Britain, dormouse populations have declined by as much as 70% in the last decade due to habitat loss, lack of traditional coppicing, increased fragmentation of suitable habitats, and environmental changes.

For more information on hazel dormice, download our factsheet.