Made by the Forge has donated all its tree planting money for the year 2013 to the Suffolk Wildlife Trust. This has helped them buy trees for their Dormouse conservation project. This years tree planting has already taken place and was a great success. The trees were planted over a weekend by volunteers so none of our tree money is spent on anything other than trees.
We were kindly invited to Arger Fen and Spouse’s Vale to see for ourselves how the Trusts work is benefitting the countryside and especially the habitat for the Dormouse.
The Trust have put up a number of Dormouse boxes so that the mice can hibernate and live safely. The boxes also help the Trust collect vital data to monitor their work.
Below is a short excerpt from the Suffolk Wildlife Trust.
‘Dormice spend their lives exclusively amongst the branches of trees and scrub and will not cross open ground to reach suitable habitat. Removing the hedges that link woodlands fragments the dormouse population which in time becomes ever more vulnerable to habitat change and genetic isolation. Therefore it is essential to locate and reconnect remaining populations of dormice. Private landowners and farmers are now playing a critical role by planting new hedges or ‘gapping up’ existing hedges to recreate the connected landscape which is so vital for dormice. Of course it is not just dormice that will benefit, hedges support a rich assemblage of plants, invertebrates and birds….’
‘The dormice that only just managed to survive the fragmentation of their aerial world in the tops of trees and hedges once again have the opportunity to move unhindered through the countryside using a revitalised network of hedges and woods.’ SWT
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