Dormouse Nest Box Surveys

What are nest box surveys?

The Hampshire Dormouse Group undertakes dormouse nest box surveys at suitable sites throughout Hampshire where we have previously established the presence of dormice. Each survey involves checking dormouse nest boxes, which have been erected on trees and scrub throughout areas of suitable dormouse habitat. They are checked by a licenced individual, with the help of other volunteers, several times a year between April and November.

What might we find?

We might find a dormouse nest, an individual dormouse snoozing, or a whole family jumping around! Wood mice and yellow-necked mice also like making their home in the boxes, as well as birds, which use them for nesting in the early part of the year, particularly tits. We might also discover the occasional bat!

A dormouse found within a nest box during a nest box survey

Sometimes bats are found in dormouse nest boxes!

How to undertake a nest box survey

There are several training videos provided by the Peoples Trust for Endangered Species (PTES) which demonstrate the skills used by dormouse monitors during a nest box survey. These skills include: putting up nest boxes; kit needed for checking boxes; how to check a nest box with dormice present including active and multiple individuals; how to handle, sex and weigh dormice; as well as the recording of data for the National Dormouse Monitoring Programme. Please visit the training area to find out more.

Help us with a nest box survey

Please volunteer and join us on a nest box survey. Many of our sites are part of the National Dormouse Monitoring Programme coordinated by PTES and survey data is fed back to the Programme for collation and analysis.