The Dormouse may be here

losthorizon

Apparently the dormouse may have arrived to our shores recently undetected possibly in bales of hay while sleeping. (they sleep most of the year).

They look like ordinary mice except they have big black eyes for seeing in the dark and big fluffy tails. There was a piece about it on the news this morning.

http://www.independent.ie/irish-news/hunt-on-for-dormouse-invader-29422206.html

Kicking Bird

Hi losthorizon,

Believe it or not,this may be old news!I was listening to 'Mooney Goes Wild' early last year and several listeners reported seeing these little critters close to their homes in rural Co.Kildare.I know at the time the concensus was they came into the country via imported bales of hay.Co.Kildare is horsey country afterall,so it's a pretty good hypothesis.

Birdnuts

2 words: OWL FOOD

Mothman

Previous thread

cuddlycavies

https://www.facebook.com/DormouseSurveyIreland?fref=ts

study in NUIG

fryup

can't see why not there's a new species of shrew thats only been recently discovered

cuddlycavies

Yep and bank Voles too. Maybe shortailed Field voles will follow?

fryup

on the subject of non native species are we 101% certain thats theres no weasels in ireland?? ...cause going for a walk the other day i saw a little critter scurry across my path with a mouse in its mouth and doing a google image search the closest resemblance that i could see was the weasel

Kicking Bird

We can never be 101% confident that there isn't,and just as the doormouse was accidentally introduced,a lone weasel may have made a similar journey from the U.K. I think it unlikely though!

It may have been a stoat with a lighter coloured coat,afterall colour mutations can be common enough occurences.The most obvious physical difference between the two,apart from the size and the colour of the fur,is the tail length(the stoat as you know also has a black tip to its tail).I know you may have only seen it in a fleeting moment,but did you get a good look at its tail by any chance?

I had a wonderful experience several years ago whilst sitting close to a hedgerow;I first heard a small rustle and when I took a look behind,I saw this tiny little creature(a stoat) dance cheekily about.It looked like he didn't want me there and started to race back and forth at me and made the odd leap in the air - it was hilarious!It's not until you're that close to one that you realise how tiny they really are.

cuddlycavies

Yes they are lovely up close. I've seen several at close quarters. Last year at an old hotel in England I saw a weasel on the balcony at breakfast . They're quite different. Very much shorter tail and smaller.

ytpe2r5bxkn0c1

fryup wrote: »

on the subject of non native species are we 101% certain thats theres no weasels in ireland?? ...cause going for a walk the other day i saw a little critter scurry across my path with a mouse in its mouth and doing a google image search the closest resemblance that i could see was the weasel

A Weasel is weasily recognised while a Stoat is stoatally different.

According to my late grandfather!