An apology to dormice and their fans.

"Just don`t mention the dormouse. I mentioned it once but I think I got away with it."

Amongst all the media furore about 2 over-paid, over-rated, narcissistic fops leaving dirty messages on the bloke who played Manuel in Fawlty Towers` answer machine, Ebor Forestry have managed to upset a dormouse enthusiast in London.

We are, of course, delighted (not to have upset anyone) but to find out that someone actually reads this rubbish.

We are therefore pleased to publish our corespondent`s comments on the subject of dormouses - sorry, dormices - dormice.

Dear Sir

I was forwarded a copy of your blog regarding the reintroduced dormice in Yorkshire and felt that it wasn’t entirely accurate in its representation of the consequences of the dormouse release.

In the first instance dormice are a native animal that were present in Yorkshire, certainly in Victorian times, and probably up to the 1960’s. Woodland fragmentation led to their local extinction over the past 50 years and as they are an arboreal animal they would be highly unlikely to be able to re-establish populations in isolated woods. This inability of the species to naturally repopulate areas initiated the dormouse reintroduction programme which has now been running since 1993 and has seen dormice reintroduced to 16 sites in the counties of the midlands and northern England.

In all instances the owners of the woodlands have been keen to have the opportunity to provide sites for the reintroduction of a locally extinct mammal and have generally continued with woodland management that is essential for the long term survival of local dormouse populations.

In North Yorkshire there are currently three known populations, all of which have been reintroduced. If there is any woodland within 3 miles of any of these sites they should be managed appropriately for dormice. However dormice live quite happily in working coppiced woodland and management sympathetic to dormouse could also be considered to be good working practice.

Simple guidelines to follow for a small woodland owner would be:

- undertake any tree or coppice work between November and March

- coppice in small blocks

- avoid felling more than one third of an area of habitat

- where possible extract timber by forwarder rather than skidder

- retain arboreal connection between coppice blocks

- cut ride-side scrub only in winter

- keep fire sites, paths and trackways to a minimum.

The presence of dormice to Yorkshire should be a cause for celebration not a cause for concern. If their presence encourages woodland owners to either initiate or continue good practice, this should be a positive result to anyone interested in woodland management.

Kind regards
(Name and address supplied)

So think on.

For more information about the dormouse and how to prepare it with a selection of tasty seasonal vegetables look out for Hugh Fearnley-Whittingstall`s new book The Native Rodent.