This fifth year has seen a drop in numbers due to another bad winter/spring. March we left Hazel Nuts hoping to find teeth marks to work out who was using the boxes but they disappeared or were left untouched. Figures will not have been helped by the extensive flooding last winter/spring when hibernating Dormice could have drowned. Three new assistants have joined the team making this year's team fourteen, five full licence holders and nine assistants.

Surveys were monthly April to November, contents recorded and registered with The County Ecologist, SeWBREC, NRW and NDMP. The May survey found Tits had nested in 30, 57% of the boxes. Our heaviest Dormouse was in October at 32gms and lightest August 5.5gms. Our May/Nov 2012 count was 41 but the 2013 figure is only 24, 58% of last years annual total. Despite the low annual figure the highest monthly count was less than 12% down with 12 Dormice against 14 last year.