Trap in hedgrow

[Kayleigh]

Today while walking the dog there was some sort of small traps dotted about the hedgerow. There was a piece of plastic bag used as a marker and a numbers on the box's. There were about twenty in all, about a metre apart and they were about 5ft up into the hedge. They looked like a mouse trap with bedding in one end. There was also some bait in a hollow stick as we investigated one of the traps a pellet dropped out. Does any one know what these are and why they are in the hedge. Is it a wildlife survey or something. Or something more sinister.

[nightshade]

They sound like longworth Vole traps,some one is monitoring the numbers

[fbcpmike]

Sounds like a survey set up for one of the mice family possibly Dormouse ?.
If its a research / survey set up I would have thought that they could have left a contact number on the side of the boxes.

I would keep an eye on it in case it has a sinister application.

[Kayleigh]

Thanks nightshade There has been a decline in voles this year, in turn there was also a decline in barn owls. I suppose they want know how bad the decline is. I though someone was trying to kill something.

We disturbed a box yesterday and it had not been touched today. I thought they were supposed to check them every day?

[nightshade]

I thought there was a 2 Hourly check mandate,or as some one said
there should be bedding and a contact number

[Kayleigh]

Originally Posted by nightshade

I thought there was a 2 Hourly check mandate,or as some one said
there should be bedding and a contact number

There was a small amount of bedding like grass but no contact details. I walk the dog there most days so will keep an eye out. Its probably the same farmer that put the chicken in the field in a cage/trap its all the land he farms.

[nightshade]

Photos this time?

[Gill Catton]

Originally Posted by nightshade

I thought there was a 2 Hourly check mandate,or as some one said
there should be bedding and a contact number

that's only valid I think for longworth traps, as these are 5ft up they sound like dormouse nesting tubes and these structures allow the animals to come and go freely, just tempts them into a place where you can find them more easily - so find out if they are present.

They are protected and ideally you shouldn't disturb these boxes unless you have a licence to do so. - which the person running this survey will have including all the relevant training to obtain one.

Oh wait sorry I mis read - in what sense are these traps? when you describe it as like a mouse trap do you mean it has an arm that would snap down onto a board? I have seen squirrel traps a bit like giant mousetraps but these are usually really quite big

[thunder]

Originally Posted by nightshade

I thought there was a 2 Hourly check mandate,or as some one said
there should be bedding and a contact number

Can somebody provide chapter and verse for this supposed need to check Longworth traps every two hours? It seems most unlikely that it is enshrined in law, and absurdly restrictive if it is.

thunder

[eeyore]

Originally Posted by thunder

Can somebody provide chapter and verse for this supposed need to check Longworth traps every two hours? It seems most unlikely that it is enshrined in law, and absurdly restrictive if it is.

thunder

EN (now NE) licence conditions for longworth trapping shrews stipulate that the trap must be checked at least twice per day and at no longer intervals than 13 hours

most other small mammals do not have such a stipulation but good practice suggest that traps be checked/reset at dusk and checked as soon after dawn as practical

there is definitely no 2 hour requirement as such frequent disturbance would render any trapping/survey regime pointless