History of Little Linford Wood and North Bucks Dormouse Group
Little Linford Wood is now 105 acres of semi natural Ancient Woodland, but had previously been a part of the Little Linford Manor Estate since the Norman conquest. Before this, it had probably been woodland since the last ice age. For more information about the wood see our Little Linford Wood page.
Towards the end of 1985, Little Linford Wood was up for sale but was beyond the reach of BBONT now called “The Bucks, Berks and Oxon Wildlife Trust” (BBOWT). At around this time, Sir David Attenborough (Chairman of “The British Wildlife Appeal”) found out that John Paul Getty Junior (K.B.E) was interested in saving threatened wildlife sites in Britain. On asking all 46 local Wildlife Trusts for their suggestions, John Paul Getty Junior decided to help finance the purchase of Little Linford wood through “The British Wildlife Appeal” and also generously added an extra amount for the restoration needed once the wood was under the care of BBONT.
However, it was now 1986 and the owner of the wood had obtained a licence to fell the trees. The contractors had moved in and began felling the trees including Oaks that were planted 150 years ago. Michael Horwood, BBONT’s Conservation consultant, was able to speedily negotiate the purchase of the wood for £100 000 in June 1986, and so minimise the extent of the timber extraction. The rescue of Little Linford Wood was one of the first major successes of The British Wildlife Appeal. The area that had been felled was about 1/3 of the wood. This was replanted by BBONT and trees began to grow again.
During the 1990’s John Prince, a member of MKNHS had an interest in Dormice and had obtained a licence to handle Dormice. He proposed Little Linford wood as a re-introduction site for Dormice and this was accepted. At this time John Prince founded “The North Bucks Dormouse Group” from a group of wildlife enthusiasts to monitor the re-introduced Dormice at Little Linford wood.
In June 1998 exactly 41 Dormice were brought to the wood from captive bred stock and from Dormice that were translocated from woodlands that were felled to build the Channel Tunnel rail link in Kent. The Dormice were released by a soft release method that involved feeding the Dormice in release cages for a couple of weeks before a hole was opened in the cage for the Dormice to escape. The Dormice were re-introduced as part of what is now Natural England’s “Dormouse Species Recovery Programme administered by the People’s Trust for Endangered Species (PTES).
Dormice are an edge of woodland species that prefer early successional re-growth such as that produced by coppicing. The areas that had been felled in 1986 had grown into a dense scrub that was very suitable for Dormice. It was as if someone had deliberately coppiced 1/3 of the wood 12 years earlier, in time to provide ideal habitat for the released Dormice to colonise.
The re-introduction has been very successful, the Dormice have been found to have spread to all the suitable areas of the wood. In September 2004 a total of 117 Dormice were recorded within the wood on one day. Today the numbers of Dormice that are recorded are much lower, but Dormice have been found to be breeding up to a mile away both north and south along the M1 motorway verge, and have been found in the hedgerows around the wood. However, their long term success could still be affected by the changing climate. Dormice best survive hibernation during cold winters and have best breeding success in warm dry summers. Both continuous mild wet winters or wet summers are probably not good for Dormouse numbers.
Little Linford continues to be managed by coppicing on a long cycle by BBOWT volunteers. This management aims to maintain the woodland as suitable habitat for its Dormice and for many other woodland species.
The North Bucks Dormouse Group has licensed volunteers who survey the woodland and surrounding hedgerows for Dormice using boxes supplied by PTES. Many of the group members are also members of The Milton Keynes Natural History Society (MKNHS), and other groups such as PTES, The Mammal Society, and BBOWT.
This article was written by Paul Manchester, our resident Dormouse expert.
Many thanks to Paul Manchester and Tony Wood for supplying the photographs.