Tracking mammals

18^th April 2006

Two sand patches were prepared at woodland boundaries to record mammal footprints; they were visited daily for a month, from mid-March to mid-April 2006.

On 12 of the 31 days, it rained overnight and any prints were obliterated. The remaining nights were fine and a variety of mammal prints were found every morning except two, showing that the woodland is used by a range of mammal species. All the prints found were of hedgehog size or larger, suggesting the play sand used may not have been fine enough to record the tracks of smaller, lighter mammals. Over the course of the month, the sand quality depreciated as it became mixed with leaves and soil: the best prints were found in clean damp sand and were preserved by making Plaster of Paris casts.

We tentatively identified deer, fox, badger, rabbit, and stoat footprints, as well as those left by various dogs and a domestic cat. Bird prints were also found, and on one occasion something had been dragged across a sand patch - possibily prey being dragged by a small carnivore.

We plan to prepare more sand patches in the summer using finer sand.

The collected prints were taken for the Oxfordshire Local Environment Groups Conference in October 2006.

2006 diary index