THE National Trust has received a £5,500 Heritage Lottery Fund (HLF) grant to fund a Healthy Hedgerows project on the Holnicote Estate on Exmoor.

Among the work it will help fund is a study of the endangered dormouse in hedgerows, and the charity is calling for volunteers to help them with the project.

The grant will help the Trust to study farmland hedgerows in Porlock Vale, collecting data on where dormice are present, which other species are using the habitats and the general health and condition of hedgerows.

With large variations of land types including moor, wood, farm and coast, the Holnicote Estate offers an ideal place to develop understanding of links between hedgerows and high conservation value woodlands.

Dormice will be a key focus species for the project. The Trust will use the funding to understand more about their use of hedgerow habitats. They have already been found in many of the woods on the estate, one of which – Blackford Wood – is currently being monitored as part of the ‘National Dormouse Monitoring Programme.’

Volunteers will be key to making the project a success and the National Trust’s ranger team is looking for people who would like to be trained in surveying hedgerows.

The information gathered will allow the team to assess how connected the dormice habitats are, contributing to the National Trust’s strategy aims of creating sites that are bigger, better and more joined up for nature.

Cally Harmer, volunteer ranger for the National Trust, said: “We’re really excited about the Healthy Hedgerows project, and are so glad to have been awarded this grant.

"It will be great to find out what creatures are living in the hedgerows, and we really hope to find signs of dormice.

"There is a lot to learn to help raise awareness and make this environment better for its wildlife.”