Over the years, we have seen just the faintest of signs that there are dormice somewhere in the park. We have worked to make the hazel copses in Cornfield and Simpson’s Field good dormouse habitat and every year we hope to add them to our species list. At this time of year they will be deep in hibernation.
Continue reading “Dormouse hibernation”
Grey squirrels can’t hibernate; their metabolism won’t let them put on enough weight to sleep through the winter.
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The temperature is dropping and we have already seen the first frosts. The park’s invertebrates are preparing for hibernation.
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Report from a park user yesterday:
I saw two butterflies in Sleepers Field this morning – a brimstone and a peacock.
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Unlike the dormice of yesterday’s post, grey squirrels can’t hibernate; their metabolism won’t let them put on enough weight to sleep through the winter.
Continue reading “A squirrel factoid”
We have seen signs that there are dormice somewhere in the park. At this time of year they will be deep in hibernation.
Continue reading “Dormouse hibernation”
The temperature is dropping and we have already seen the first frosts. The park’s invertebrates are preparing for hibernation.
Continue reading
Almost all of the 21 species of butterfly that have been seen in the park this summer, will overwinter here. Butterflies can hibernate in all four of the stages of their development.
Britain has fifty eight species of butterfly, and nine of these species spend the winter as an egg, thirty two spend it as a caterpillar, eleven as a pupa, and six as an adult.
Here are some examples:
Of all the mammals on our species list, only the bats and the hedgehogs hibernate. We have found the tiniest piece of evidence that there might be dormice in the park, if so, that would be a third hibernating species.
