05 July 2021
Recording of the week: A hibernating dormouse
This week’s selection comes from Cheryl Tipp, Curator of Wildlife & Environmental Sounds
You'd be hard pressed to find anything cuter than a sleeping dormouse. This tiny little rodent can spend up to seven months of the year asleep, moving between a state of hibernation and torpor (deep sleep) before reawakening when the weather is warm enough.
The following recording was made over 50 years in London by wildlife sound recordist Lawrence Shove. In it we can hear the rhythmic high-pitched calls of a dormouse fast asleep, oblivious to the activity around it.
Common Dormouse calls during hibernation recorded in London England on 11 April 1966 (BL REF 104845)
Common Dormouse calls during hibernation, recorded in London, England on 11 April 1966 (BL REF 104845)
This recording is part of a much larger collection of British wildlife recorded by Shove during the 1960s and 1970s. The collection has recently been preserved through the Unlocking our Sound Heritage project and will soon be available online.
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