THE latest stage of a year-long wildlife project at Okehampton Primary School had pupils taking part in a fun workshop with National Trust wardens last Wednesday.

Children from Year 3 and Year 4 took part in a workshop making dormouse nesting tubes under the guidance of wardens from Castle Drogo.

Using one litre drink cartons, pupils made tubes for dormice to nest in that will be utilised in a number of dormouse monitoring schemes run by Devon Wildlife Trust, Okehampton Dormice Survey Group and Dartmoor National Park.

The tubes are used primarily for short-term surveying to find out if dormice are present in an area or not. Wooden boxes are used for long-term monitoring of a developing dormouse population.

The finished tubes are fixed to a horizontal limb of a tree or bush, replicating a hollow branch, an ideal nesting spot.

Some of the tubes will be put in the hedges around the school grounds to see if there are any signs of dormouse activity. Dartmoor National Park ranger Ian Brooker will periodically check the contents of the tubes for activity.

The activity was part of a year project on dormice involving all children at the school.