A SURVEY was conducted at Brentor Common recently to better understand what is happening to the wildlife in the area.

The Brentor Commons Association, in partnership with the Devon Mammal Group, staged its first small mammal survey on Bowden and Liddaton downs.

A group of around 15 people spent a productive 24 hours setting up humane traps and taking part in bat detecting — of which they found five. The next morning the group checked the mammal traps and found plenty of woodmice, bank voles and one field vole.

Will Walker-Smith, who organised and took part in the survey, said: ‘This indicates a healthy population perfect for our predators such as owls, buzzards, and weasels to feed on. The experts from the mammal group also confirmed that the nibbled hazelnuts that we found on both days were eaten by dormice. A very successful and informative 24 hours.

‘In addition three surveys since May of our moth population by the Devon Moth Group has identified 158 species of moths in different locations on both commons, including Privet, Poplar and Elephant Hawkmoths.

‘We felt that we needed an up-to-date picture of what was happening to the wildlife.’

It is hoped that more surveys will be conducted in the future.