Woods, Hedges and Fields - Gower - page 263

beatgreaterriskfromroadtraffic.Otherissuesaffectingtheconservationofbadgersincludethedramatic
riseinthenumberofcattlewithbovinetuberculosis,aninfectiousandcontagiousdiseaseofcattlecaused
by the bacterium Mycobacterium bovis . Since the mid-1970s thousands of badgers in Britain have been
culledinresponsetooutbreaksoftuberculosis,becauseofcircumstantialevidencethatbadgersspreadthe
disease. Thankfully there has been no culling in Gower to date and this crude approach is now becoming
discredited.
FIG 150. Badger in Nicholaston Wood. (Harold Grenfell)
The native common or hazel dormouse Muscardinus avellanarius was recorded from Berry Wood in
1969, but has not been detected there since. Apart from bats, the dormouse is the only British mammal
to hibernate (in the true sense of the word) and their name is thought to originate from the French word
dormir , meaning 'to sleep'. The animal is no longer as widespread or abundant as its name suggests and
its distribution is now limited to the south and west of England, parts of Wales and a few outlying popu-
lations in the north of England. Dormice are mainly confined to those habitats that provide a rich variety
of edible fruit and seeds within a complex physical structure, such as woodlands and areas of species-
rich shrubs such as hedgerows. They very rarely come down to the ground, spending most of their time
climbing among branches in the hunt for food. In particular they require a sequence of suitable foods to
be available in the tree and shrub canopy through the summer. While they are often thought of as wood-
land species, the earlier literature mentions a much wider range of habitats including hedges, thickets and
commons. Nests have also been found low down in coastal scrub, less than 1 metre above the ground,
close to the grass that is used to construct them.
The current status of the dormouse is not clear, although a recent survey found signs of its presence in
anumberoflocations.In1965adormousenestwasfoundinCilibionPlantation,aconiferplantationwith
a broadleaved edge consisting ofcoppice with standards, and in 1998there was a record ofa distinctively
gnawed hazel nut at the same site. The other stronghold for dormice appears to be Gelli Hir Wood, where