The GREENLOFT Project
Creatures Small

The following pictures were all taken as part of our work.
Everything on this page is very common and widespread in the UK.
These small creatures will thrive without much help from us, but our
work in the GREENLOFT Project should help them even more.

GREEN VEINED WHITE
(Pieris napi)

...likes to feed on wild garlic mustard, cuckoo flowers and watercress.
...is found in damp lush grassland, riverbanks and woodland edges.
GATEKEEPER
(Pyronia tithonus)

...feeds on grasses and bramble.
...found at field boundaries.
COMMON BLUE
(Polyommatus icarus)

...feeds on Birds-foot-trefoil.
...likes sunny and sheltered grassland.
SPECKLED WOOD
(Pararge aegeria)

...feeds on the honeydew extracted from trees by aphids.
...likes dappled shade in woodland or alongside tall hedgerows.
RED-HEADED CARDINAL BEETLE
(Pyrochroa serraticornis)

...eats other beetles, bugs, and flies.
...is found in grassland and woodland.
DORMOUSE
(Muscardinus avellanarius)

...does not live on hazel nuts alone - will eat most fruits, nuts and insects
...found in woodland, mature hedges, - everywhere there is food.
FIELD VOLE
(Microtus agrestris)

...eats grasses, bulbs, roots, and tree bark.
...likes the dense ground cover of overgrown pastures or hedgerows.
WOOD MOUSE
(Apodemus sylvaticus)

...eats seeds, buds, fruit, insects, worms, centipedes, snails, fungi - almost anything.
...found in woodland, grassland, hedges, gardens - everywhere there is life.
SHREW
(Sorex araneus)

...eats insects, slugs, snails, spiders and worms.
...same broad habitat as the wood mouse - a hyperactive solitary type.
CARE OF TRAPPED SMALL MAMMALS

We use lots of bedding, and lots of food - including moist food like apples.

To examine our captives, the kindest enclosure is a clear plastic bag.
They have ample space and air and typically continue eating calmly.
HANDLING SMALL MAMMALS

If we want to sex them they need to be held still.

As with most small mammals, the scruff of the neck is the answer.
THE ESCAPE

Nobody gets hurt.

They are released exactly where they were found.
They soon scurry off once free.

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