Searching For Mammals

The Friday of our Bioblitz was a wet day, especially Friday evening. My good friends Emma Hawkes, Emily Harker (who are both licenced to trap small mammals) and Louise Brazier from The Gilbert White Field Studies Centre arrived about 6pm. We had intended to put out small mammal traps that evening, but heavy rain can create safety issues for any trapped mammals, so we decided to delay setting the traps until the weather improved. Martyn Phillis, had also been considering looking for bats but, understandably, decided to defer his visit (and was able to return a few days later).

Saturday morning, the rain had stopped. As I visited one of the moth traps two young deer dashed past me. Later from the cottage window I spied a small (unidentified) furry creature dart between plants in the rockery outside. I took this to be a good omen and Emma and I quickly put out the traps in likely looking places around the farm.

Emma visited the traps every 2 hours until around 4pm but the small mammals, if out, managed to avoid them all.

So by the end of our bioblitz, despite discovering so many other species, precisely what mammals we have at the farm remains a mystery.

I would like to say a big thank you to Emma, Emily and Louise for all their help during the bioblitz not just with small mammals, but for their abundance of enthusiasm, advice and practical support with moths and other species. Their contributions added so much to the event’s success.