Dormice reintroduced at Bradgate Park to boost population
More than 20 hazel dormice have been reintroduced to Leicestershire as part of a project to boost the species' declining numbers.To help them adapt, the animals will be housed in open cages in a secret location within Bradgate Park, near Newton Linford, before being released into the wild.The dormouse population has dropped by 70% nationally since 2000, and the species is now extinct in 20 English counties, according to a 2023 report.Ian White, dormouse and training officer at the People's Trust for Endangered Species, said the reintroduction could provide "vital stepping stones to start a new population of dormice".
"We're hopeful that by autumn, the dormice will have settled into the woodland," he added. "If we start to see litters later this year, it will mark the beginning of their return. "It's a big day for the county, as dormice haven't been seen here for a very long time."
Volunteers will monitor the dormice daily over a 10-day period, topping up food and water while the animals adjust to their new surroundings.During this time, the dormice will remain in mesh enclosures before being released to forage for themselves.As they settle in, they are expected to begin breeding and dispersing into surrounding woodland and hedgerows. Volunteer Hazel Edwards, who helped prepare the site, said: "A couple of weeks ago we started setting up large open cages in the woods so the dormice would acclimatise."From today, we'll feed and care for them daily. The cages are filled with fresh hazel twigs, water, and food. "After about 10 days, we'll open the cages, and they'll move into nesting boxes we've placed nearby. Hopefully, those will become their forever homes."Mr White added the reintroduction formed "part of a long-term effort" to bring the species back to Leicestershire.He said: "It took 100 years for numbers to fall - restoring them will take just as long."
Hashtags
Try Our AI Features
Explore what Daily8 AI can do for you:
Comments
No comments yet...
Related Articles
Times
an hour ago
- Times
Take it from one of the lads: this act is a whinger's charter
Growing up with three brothers, I've always liked being one of the lads: on newsdesks, on tallships, heaving cases of mixers across O'Keefe's yard to restock my bar. Rather be lumped in with 'lads' than called a 'girl' or patronised as a 'little lady'. 'Lass' is OK from a northerner, 'Ma'am' acceptable from Americans, 'Madam' a bit Knightsbridge. But being accepted as one of the lads is what we Pankhursts fought for: just hire us, pay us, refrain from making lame suggestive remarks, and we'll reliably do a good lad's work. Except, obviously, while we're physically engaged in churning out the next generation. So I groan at the employment tribunal judge who prissily ruled the L-word as a 'non-complimentary use of gender-specific language', even though it wasn't the successful bit of the complaint. As the UK hurtles ever further into debt and idle self-pity, its good intentions pave the way to social and employment hell. The 2010 Equality Act listing protected characteristics has become a whinger's charter: a fiscal drag on employers. And, worse, a very good reason for them to avoid hiring anyone lumbered with anything looking like a 'characteristic' — femaleness, race, mild disability, baldness, gayness, trans, general emotional fragility — which they might weaponise if ever you rashly point out their deficiencies. Of course real bullies need dealing with. And in a sane country it should be possible for any employee to say 'look, I hate that word, that joke, it makes me feel small', and get back to work without resentment. I suspect most of us have done just that. But the grievance culture ballooned into the hideous fashionability of self-righteous victimhood. Who'd be an employer? I dutifully did the Times harassment quiz, based on recent cases, and am relieved not to live in fear of sending an unwanted birthday card (£25k), moving someone's desk (constructive dismissal), disapproving of trainers in the office (£30k), or singing a wrong song (£80k). Before 2010 you had to base your complaint specifically on race, sex, or disability law. The 2010 Act larded on nuances and associations, presumptions about feelings, vague victimhoods. As a human rights barrister, Anna Loutfi, observed, the system has become increasingly divorced from workplace reality. The discontented, sometimes hoping more for a payout than a return to work, can massage the facts of any tiff to fit a 'protected' narrative. Claims, even if lost, waste years of legal and business time which Britain could have spent prospering. Some are encouraged by deliberate political activism, encouraging every imaginary slight. It drags us down. Revise, repeal, get real.
Telegraph
8 hours ago
- Telegraph
Prince of Wales: We can save Dartmoor from climate change
The Prince of Wales has launched a 'bold and ambitious' project to protect Dartmoor from the impact of climate change and return the land 'to its former glory'. He warned that Dartmoor's 'magnificent and complex ecosystem' was under threat, and that action was needed in order to allow it to thrive and keep it 'special' for future generations. The Prince's Duchy of Cornwall has joined forces with the Central Dartmoor Landscape Recovery project to propose a new approach to grazing, conservation and biodiversity. The Dartmoor Landscape Vision is designed as a 20-year road map and is the largest project of its kind in the UK. The Prince, who inherited the Duchy from his father on the death of Elizabeth II, braved heavy rain and wind to visit Tor Royal Bog, near Yelverton, Devon, on Thursday to speak to some of those working on the project. 'I'm keen to continue my father's work as well,' he said. 'For me it's about the impact, I want to see stuff actually happen. We've done the talking now, we've put the vision together, the design, now it's about the activation.' Pointing to an area of restored peatland, he added: 'Even though this is a small bit, we need to get more and more of this going on all around Dartmoor to bring it back to its former glory, while still keeping the farming and everything else going.' 'Magnificent and complex' The Prince wrote in the foreword to the Landscape Vision: 'Dartmoor is a magnificent and complex ecosystem – the balance between nature and people has evolved for thousands of years to shape the landscape we recognise today. 'To keep Dartmoor special, we must respond to the twin challenges of global warming and the requirement to restore nature, while ensuring the communities on Dartmoor can thrive. 'The Dartmoor Vision shows us what might be possible and how that might be achieved. It is bold and ambitious and something that I hope, by working together, can be delivered for not just the current generation but for generations to come.' During his visit to the area, the Prince met with Duchy tenant farmers David and Justine Colton at Tor Royal Bog, and spoke to members of the South West Peatland Partnership and Tony Juniper, chair of Natural England. As they chatted in the steady downpour, the Prince joked: 'I came to talk about the fires and a plan to re-wet peat!' Referring to the Landscape Vision, he said: 'To be able to bring everyone together, I think, is not only crucial to the whole thing but it sets a model for how it can be done elsewhere. And that's what I love doing. Whatever we do here, other people can follow what we're doing. 'So much of it is local leadership and collaboration. If you put those two together, things can be adapted.' Moving in the right direction He said not everyone believed the vision to restore the land within just two decades was possible. '(They said) '20 years, good luck, it's going to take longer than that!' These things take time, they really do. But at least if you set up a path and move in that direction, everyone will move in the same direction.' An eight-month study that covered 22,000 hectares of land found that average frost days are expected to halve over the next 40 years, while the chances of a dry summer will increase by 30 per cent. A 2C increase in temperatures could mean that Dartmoor would no longer be suitable for blanket peatland.
The Independent
9 hours ago
- The Independent
Air India crash survivor's family ‘in shock' after ‘miraculous' escape
The family of Vishwash Kumar Ramesh, the sole survivor of the Air India crash, has said it was a 'miracle' that he survived the doomed flight which saw the other 241 passengers onboard perish. Nayan Kumar Ramesh, Vishwash's brother, said his sibling called their father seconds after the crash, telling the family that he was unsure how he escaped. Vishwash also enquired about his younger brother Ajay, with whom he had been traveling back from Ahmedabad. Speaking to Sky News outside his Leicestershire home on Thursday (12 June), Nayan said: 'It's a miracle he survived but what about the other miracle for my other brother?'. He said that his family is in a state of shock and the incident has made him 'scared to even sit in a plane'.
