“It was freezing. Really, really freezing.” Olly had just got back from Bude yesterday evening. He body-surfs and taking advantage of the clocks changing and the glorious warm day he’d nipped down to Bude for an early evening surf.
“Did you have your winter wetsuit on?” I asked
“Oh yes. The lot. Hood, gloves, socks. I wear the winter one all year now. Because I’m in the water constantly for maybe an hour or more I get really cold, not like board-surfers.” He hung over the Aga “But it was freezing. Lots of people out there though.” He draped himself across the whole Aga top “And by the way, what’s with all the speed and CCTV cameras down our lane? Not too sure about that!” Our farm lane is half a mile long, lumpy, bumpy, windy and not known for speeding along.
CCTV or speed camera? They have appeared every 10m along our lane.
“Ah-ha, yes. New experiment!” Robert had just walked into the kitchen loaded down with seed trays “New design, rural ones! But they won’t show at all in a couple of weeks. Catch you unawares if you go over 5mph!”
“What are they?”
they are dormouse nest tubes!
“Dormouse nest tubes. I’m carrying out an experiment.” He replied, dumping the seed trays on the kitchen table “To see whether dormice will use the tubes even when there’s lots of really good natural nesting habitat in the hedges. I suspect that they won’t, but need to check this.” He turned to Olly “Hot tea?”
“But” I interrupt “Isn’t that taking their skills away? I mean the hedges you’ve put them in are the ones where you found lots of dormice nests aren’t they?”
“Yes, you’re right, they are. But actually it’s been shown that dormice babies born in captivity have the ability to make nests. It’s an instinct, not learnt behaviour.”
I pour boiling water into the tea pot “So you’re not enticing them into state-of-the-art des.res at any detriment to their beautifully constructed natural nests?”
“No, I really don’t think so. Many surveys to find out whether there are dormice around, particularly for new developments, use the tubes. But it could be that if the habitat’s really good they just won’t use them – it’s safer to build their own nests. Only if the cover is poor will they resort to using artificial tree holes – which is what the nest tubes are.”
I suddenly have a vision of giant alien beings carrying out experiments on some weirdly strange little human-creatures they’ve noticed. State of the art mansions are placed in tempting locations. What would we do?
Assemblyof dormice nest tubes taking place in the warm and ambient atmosphere of the biome!
Locks Park Farm 
11 comments
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April 2, 2009 at 12:06 pm
Mopsa
I’ve always thought those tubes look a little too slippy for dormice feet… look forward to hearing the experiment results! And personally I think aliens have been busy designing polytunnels….they make ideal petri dishes of mega size!
April 7, 2009 at 8:50 pm
paula
Got little wooden floor! Those blasted alien petri dishes – the ambient climate is sooo good for weeds…
April 2, 2009 at 9:07 pm
elizabethm
Now I would think you were joking if it were not for the fact that you are so clearly not!
Personally I would be deeply suspicious of any des res’s dropped by aliens and would stay firmly in my own little house. But then I am not a dormouse.
Ooops, should have said great post! Waiting for the next one!
April 7, 2009 at 8:53 pm
paula
As would I and I hope the dormice will be of the same persuasion!
April 3, 2009 at 4:00 pm
heidi
I have a question= Are those nesting tubes more likely to attract curious predators?
and Do they come with satellite hookup and high speed internet?
😉
I also see that some planting has started inside the Tunnel..
Lavender from the looks of it..
April 7, 2009 at 9:07 pm
paula
The man that know – he say ‘yes’! Yes, they may well attract wood mice and possibly weasels, so it could be that if the dormice already have good nesting habitat they may not use them (part of the experiment).
But of course they have the highest spec in all new technology!
And yes the tunnel is growing potatoes, courgette, and onions red and white – french beans, peas, brad beans, beetroot, broccoli, salad, herbs, lavender, grapes and sweet peas. Oh yes, and the best crop of weeds…It’s beginning to take shape.
April 3, 2009 at 6:12 pm
throughstones
Don’t trust ’em, dormice – they are just trying to impose all this new fangled modern architecture on us. It’s against nature. Befor we know where we are, us of the small and sleepy persuasion will all be living in high-rise tower blocks.
Actually they remind me of those weird hotels in Japan where you sleep in rows of capsules just big enough to hold a matress.
April 7, 2009 at 9:09 pm
paula
And you know there I was sleeping in one (strange hotel) – weird, it’s as if you had a hook-up there!
April 4, 2009 at 9:35 pm
Maggie
There was an interesting design for making dormice tubes out of fruit juice cartons in the last issue of the Wildlife Trust’s Watch magazine. I’ve been saving up the cartons but have yet to dig out the blackboard paint….
Not sure whether the design is the equivalent of making a snake pet out of an old sock, or whether it might actually work despite being in a children’s magazine. They looked pretty similar to genuine tubes I’ve seen.
What are yours made from?
Maggie
April 7, 2009 at 9:18 pm
paula
That sounds interesting Maggie – I love your worry that thry could be like a snake pets – made me chuckle. Shouldn’t see why they wouldn’t work tho, maybe a bit slippy-slidey?
Ours are from the mammal society – they are black tree guards with a bit of plywood along the length and ends – they come as flat packs. They do cost £2 but we get that back on our HLS agreement. If you want more info drop me a line.
April 7, 2009 at 9:48 am
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[…] Yotel is a Japanese concept, which funnily enough throughstones mentioned in the dormouse nest tube post below (though this one did have a shower, loo and basin) at the very instant I was experiencing […]