Finding nuts at Stara Woods

A lovely gentle autumnal day, just perfect for woodland walking. The aim was to find hazel nuts (Corylus avellanaria) that have been opened by Dormice (Muscardinus avellanarius)! Partly for our own records; partly to support the start of a Mammal Atlas for Cornwall and partly to join in the Go Nuts for Dormice project organised by the People's Trust for Endangered Species (PTES).

19 grown-ups, 3 children and a baby(?) spent nearly two hours hunting through Colquite and Treovis Woods (with Broad wood, these make up Stara Community Woodlands).

417 nuts were collected and of these 39 were definitely opened by dormice. The rest were mainly smashed open by birds & squirrels and a few by voles and wood mice.

We then all sat down to tea by invitation from the Mad Hatter ~ a wonderful spread of cakes and Dormouse biscuits.

Donations were gratefully received and divided between the Friends of Stara fund and PTES. We will be sending over £60 to PTES for their dormouse work because additional funds were collected at Darley Wood and at the talk in Altarnun.

And the person who played The Dormouse brought some nut shells from her garden and was very pleased to know that she has real wild dormice feeding in her garden.

Have a good look at the picture on the right and see if you can tell which hazel nuts were opened by dormice?