This afternoon I popped over to The Barn Countryside Centre in Manchester for a couple of hours. This afternoon's activity with the Greater Manchester Ecology Unit was laying out traps for checking tomorrow.
Firstly we were introduced to two different traps -- Longmans (top), which I've already talked about before (and got a picture of this time!) and tube traps (bottom):
The Longmans and the tube traps both work on the same principle: Open door with food. Small mammal enters, hits a trip, which closes the door. In the tube trap, this trip is the white bar at the top (the paddle at the bottom is the door). Longman traps cost around £60, but tube traps cost around £20. However, tube traps don't do so well in the wet as the door doesn't necessarily function properly because the plastic sticks, so it's all about when and where you're using them.
We took out 30 Longman traps and baited them with seed and dog food. The dog food is added for your insectivorous types, i.e. shrews. I have to admit to putting quite a large teaspoon in due to residual guilt of previous trappings. We also added a tennis ball sized amount of bedding in the form of hay and dried grass.
We laid out three transects of 10, spaced at 5m intervals. On our way out to lay the Longmans, we passed by some hedgehog tunnels that had been laid out. Two of them had been pulled into the path and the sausages had been nicked, presumably by dogs. Shame.
Tomorrow morning, we'll get to see what turns up!
Firstly we were introduced to two different traps -- Longmans (top), which I've already talked about before (and got a picture of this time!) and tube traps (bottom):
The Longmans and the tube traps both work on the same principle: Open door with food. Small mammal enters, hits a trip, which closes the door. In the tube trap, this trip is the white bar at the top (the paddle at the bottom is the door). Longman traps cost around £60, but tube traps cost around £20. However, tube traps don't do so well in the wet as the door doesn't necessarily function properly because the plastic sticks, so it's all about when and where you're using them.
We took out 30 Longman traps and baited them with seed and dog food. The dog food is added for your insectivorous types, i.e. shrews. I have to admit to putting quite a large teaspoon in due to residual guilt of previous trappings. We also added a tennis ball sized amount of bedding in the form of hay and dried grass.
We laid out three transects of 10, spaced at 5m intervals. On our way out to lay the Longmans, we passed by some hedgehog tunnels that had been laid out. Two of them had been pulled into the path and the sausages had been nicked, presumably by dogs. Shame.
Tomorrow morning, we'll get to see what turns up!
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