What is this?

[Joel.W]

Originally Posted by Burko

What would be the use of putting one of these about 8ft high and right on the end of a tree branch overhanging a footpath or, indeed, very low down on the same footpath heavily used by dog walkers?

I ask this because I've seen these somewhere where there's a proposed urban sprawl and I feel that the construction friendly 'eco' consultants are trying to disprove that dormice are present there by not correctly siting their boxes.

Would this be the case?

For many builds they have to do presence or absence of protected species. With Dormice this is normally done with a nut search as they eat hazelnuts in a very distinctive way which is a dead give away. Nest tubes are also a good method, as they use these in the day. Dormice are highly arboreal and spend time in all parts of the hedge/tree from low down to the canopy, they also use hedgerows as corridors between patches of habitats and can even live in them if their is a suitable amount of food or shelter. I would imagine that the ecologists have put the tubes up correctly, as if they have to go to court they can be held liable for not doing their job properly. Most ecologists arent there to help contractors destroy nice bits of habitats, they genuinely care about the wildlife.