Mammals

Water vole, Jonathan Ridley

Two hazel dormice are curled up within a nest of dry leaves that someone is holding up. The two dormice are side by side with their heads towards the top of the photo and their bums at the bottom, both facing to the right. They are golden yellow-brown on the back, head and sides and white on the belly, with furry darker grey brown tails that wrap around the bodies that are curled in on themselves. The dormice have pink hairless noses and four feet that are scrunched in on themselves as they sleep/hibernate with their eyes closed.

Hazel dormice, Annie Houston

Otter, Daniel Olaleye

1. About

To be written when have an overview

Highlight importance of small common mammals (voles) as food etc…

Key pressures and opportunities

These are set out for the different groups, see links below.

2. What we need to do and where

Priority

Increase the abundance and distribution of mammals across Devon, particularly those identified as Focus Species.

Focus species

Freshwater mammals

Large grey seal lies facing the camera on a pale rock with blue sea in the background. The seal is all over dappled grey with the dominant colour being dark grey, except on the head which has a mix of grey and light brown splodges. The head is long with a long wide snout and half-closed black eyes. The tail is not visible and only one flipper is visible to the left of the seal which is also dark grey but white at the edges.

Intertidal mammals

Two hazel dormice are curled up within a nest of dry leaves that someone is holding up. The two dormice are side by side with their heads towards the top of the photo and their bums at the bottom, both facing to the right. They are golden yellow-brown on the back, head and sides and white on the belly, with furry darker grey brown tails that wrap around the bodies that are curled in on themselves. The dormice have pink hairless noses and four feet that are scrunched in on themselves as they sleep/hibernate with their eyes closed.

Terrestrial mammals

Actions for all mammals

To be written when we have an overview

Join Devon mammal group

3. Inspiration

See info for the different groups in the links above

4. Find out more

Devon Mammal Group is open to anyone with an interest in mammals. They organise talks and events and lead the Devon Harvest Mouse Project.

The Mammal Society website has information on all species, including how to identify them or their signs (such as tracks and droppings).

IUCN approved Red List for Britain’s Mammals.

The JNCC Conservation Designations for UK Taxa 2023 contains data from the

JNCC, NE, NR, NatureScot and NIEA © Copyright and database right 2023. 

JNCC UK BAP List of UK Priority Species 2007

The NBN Atlas has species records and a search function that pulls up records for a specific area. Health warning: The Atlas shows records submitted and not the actual distribution of species. Therefore absence on the map does not mean absence. Some of the records are also quite old and the species may no longer be present. 

Devon Biodiversity Records Centre (DBRC) collects, manages and makes available records of wildlife. Note: they may charge depending on the reason for the request.

iNaturalistUK helps you identify wildlife and share records.

Search this site:

clear
Beta