The hunt for dormice at Ham Hill, Somerset

On Friday 4th Sept 2026, we spent four delicious hours padding around the historic Ham Hill Country Park in Somerset, checking more than 40 dormouse nest boxes for signs of life. 🐭🌿

Two years ago, around 8 were found, last year, after a long dry summer, none. Our hopes were a little low.

We found wood mouse nests, a beautiful honeycombed hornets’ nest (complete with a snoozing queen), blue tits’ mossy homes with teeny empty eggs...

And then finally... two dormouse nests 💚

Hazel dormice 🐭 spend their active months moving through trees and shrubs, making beautiful nests from fresh leaves and finely shredded plant material to give their beds a little extra aaaah. Sadly, nobody was home in the ones we found, but the signs were enough to let us breathe. Here for another year.

Once the breeding season is over, these nest boxes will be abandoned as they come down to ground level to make their winter nests and do what they do best....sleeeeeeep until the spring.

Thanks to companies including Stink Films, ProdCo, Biscuit Filmworks, Academy Films and Scout Productions, we planted 3,000 trees at Ham Hill in Somerset last year. And thanks to ProdCo & Buiscuit Filmworks we are about to plant 2,500 more. The intention has been to bridge several fragmented pockets of woodland creating one big one. And it is in part for the benefit of the dormice who live here, boosting cover and forage for their fragile population. A HUGE THANK YOU as ever goes to our generous funders.

Another dormouse survey is coming up in October and will be open to Carbon Aware funders & Carbon Aware People subscribers. If you're interest in joining Carbon Aware People (aimed at individuals who simply want to get involved in spectacular planting projects in the UK), then click the link to the site. It's just £5 a month, 80% of which goes directly to planting life-affirming, mouse hotel enhancing, carbon-sequestering tree planting projects across the UK And it opens the door to experiences like this...Trotting through the woods with clever ecologists, looking for tiny mice. 🌿🐭🌰

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