It was a bright and sunny 8:30 start for our group of a dozen or so people including 3 YounGnats. It had been a cold night and the wind got up making it feel colder by the time we finished at 10am.

20 longworth traps had been set around Duck End Nature Reserve the previous evening in a selection of sites including wood piles, around the meadow and adjacent to the ponds, 5 of the traps had bank voles and 1 had a woodmouse.

The National flea recorder had come along to check any small mammals we found for fleas. He brushed their fur over a bag with a toothbrush and got one flea from one. He also took away the bedding of those traps with small mammals to investigate later!

Richard Lawrence explained the differences between various voles and mice, what was in the traps & why – hay, bird seed & casters (blowfly larvae) for the shrews, and finally all the YounGnats got the opportunity to try reassembling trap.