Come along this year's last small mammal survey on Wednesday 16th October at 9 am. The meeting point will be opposite Scarman (///sweep.spider.hype). The Warwickshire Mammal Group will explain the survey method and provide expert guidance on how to identify common British small mammals.

Please note: If it is cold or rains heavily, we will not be able to run the survey as this would pose a risk to any small mammals in the traps.

There are limited spaces so sign up soon!

What is a small mammal survey?

We will use Longworth traps, which will be put out the night before. The traps are humane and all small mammals we find (if we find any) will be released safely.

Longworth traps have a nest box area that is filled with hay and food for the animals, plus a small tunnel to entice them into the trap. When a small mammal enters the trap, it triggers the door to close and the animal will be kept in there until we open the trap in the morning. We ensure there is enough food and bedding so that the animal is warm and fed through the night.

Only the highly experienced members of the Warwickshire Mammal Group who have the necessary licences will handle the small mammals we find during the survey, while all attendees will have the opportunity to learn about the survey method and how to ID small mammals.

We are conducting a variety of species surveys on campus to gain a greater understanding of the wildlife around us, and as part of this we want to know which small mammals are present.

What can we expect to find?

In this area, we expect to find wood mouse, field vole and bank vole. We might also find common shrews. However, we have not done a survey in this area before so a surprise species is possible.

Some pictures of the mammals we may find are below.