What a fantastic way to have a presentation! Got to be the best setting I've had for this type of thing! I would have come to this no matter what was on the screen but it just to happen to be really informative too.
We conducted our survey on the face of the Blorenge Mountain and naturally had incredible views of the Skirrid Mountain and surrounding mountains with Breacon Beacons to the left and Black Mountains to the right.
The picture below shows a single Hazel nut which is being pushed up in the air by a growing Bluebell on the woodland bed... This was pretty much the theme of todays survey work. There were literally thousands of Hazels to check and despite being educated in finding the right type of evidence, we didn't actually find any signs of Dormouse in this particular woodland. That's not to say they aren't there though, we just didn't find the evidence.
This goes to show how hard it is sometimes to find species and quick half hearted surveys are not always going to produce an accurate reading of what ecology is living on the land.
Safe to say though, I had an amazing time on a dry sunny day on the Blorenge and I'm looking forward to any future opportunities to do this type of work. Dormice are a declining and protected species and if found at the nest, cannot be disturbed in any way without a Schedule 1 License. I've never seen one before so have no photographs of my own to show you so here is a link to a fabulous photograph pulled up from Google search.
