Small Mammals of Oxfordshire

Oxfordshire Small Mammal project is designed to involve Citizen Scientists across Oxfordshire to learn more about the small mammal populations in their area, whilst also learning about individual species and the habitat they use.

Some species can be observed fairly easily in their natural habitat, birds can be seen perching in trees, or foraging on the fields, pollinators as they rest or feed on nectar, some daytime mammals as they move throughout their territory. Some wildlife though is not so straightforward to see: some shy away from humans, keeping to dense habitat where they cannot be seen; some are nocturnal; and some simply move so fast that it is not possible for a citizen scientist to observe and identify accurately in a way that can be verified by an expert without specialist equipment.

The ‘Mostela’ is a novel method, developed in the Netherlands for detecting stoats and weasels; subsequently, the design has been enhanced in the UK by research carried out by the Vincent Wildlife Trust in order to study all small mammals and maximise the observations.

The project is funded by the Trust for Oxfordshire’s Environment and Thames Valley Environmental Record Centre Recorder’s Grant Scheme.