Nature Notes

This is the "season of mists and mellow fruitfulness". Harvesting is almost completed and farmers, gardeners and fruit and vegetable growers are busy gathering the final fruits of their labours, hoping they can get everything stored before the first frosts occur. It will soon be time for ploughing again. Already the gangster gulls are gathering daily in the rotting stubble that has lain there since the wheat was cut and the muck was spread. This year the summer weather has been excellent for growing things as last month's entries in the Gardening Club Show proved, with lots of lovely fruit, vegetables and flowers on show.

Are there any dormice left in Britain? They are very hard to spot as they are tiny, only 2" long, and are nocturnal, but if they have been eating hazel nuts you may find their tiny claw marks on discarded shells. The dormouse is a pretty creature with large eyes, rounded ears and short legs, and by this time of year it will be very fat. In Roman times they were kept in kitchen cages and fattened up for the table: roast dormouse was considered a delicacy. We are more familiar with the dormouse in "Alice in Wonderland". From October to April, dormice are hibernating, curled up in a ball in a snug nest of leaves, not to waken until the spring. It is a pity that recent farming methods have destroyed much of the dormouse's habitat, the ancient woodlands and hedgerows.

Liz Jones