More true tales of dormousing

I spent the morning walking up hill and down dale in woodland checking dormouse nest boxes. I suspect we probably checked about a hundred and fifty. We found two sharing a box, a male and female; both were torpid but equally gorgeous.

This I think is the male, who was slightly heavier.

There were several boxes occupied by blue tits or great tits, including one or two where they'd all died. We forget the mortality rate of these small creatures is quite high. Also on display were some butterfly orchids and a pyramidal orchid. All in all a nice morning out though my hips are aching now.