Anyone ever heard of Glis Glis?

[PaulB]

My brother's girlfriend is up from Buckinghamshire and was telling me a tale last night of a creature I'd never heard of. She reckoned these creatures live in the lofts of houses in the Home Counties and as they are a protected species, you can't kill them. They keep residents awake at night and will gnaw through anything. I thought she was making it up but Googling it this morning, she's absolutley right. http://www.the-piedpiper.co.uk/th1l.htm I must say, if they lived in my loft they be bloody endangered so do any of you Berkshire/Buckinghamshire forumites have these animals living near/with you?

 

[akaAndrew]

We have them in our loft here in France, though they're called something else.... name evades me for the moment. They don't make that much noise really; the occasional scamperings and playing, etc - though it can be a tad annoying if/when it wakes you in the early hours. That's rare though.

They're good eating apparently!

 

[cisamcgu]

The edible dormouse

 

[dellzeqq]

what makes you think they're protected?

The Rothschilds also gave us a small breed of deer that cruises through the back gardens of Buckinghamshire eating the herbaceous borders.

 

[mr Mag00]

yh edible dormouse, often photis used instead of native dormouse completely different. no in answer to my question lol!

 

[akaAndrew]

what makes you think they're protected?

from the above 'edible doormouse' link to Wikipedia....

Though this animal is regarded as a pest by some,[3] in the United Kingdom the Wildlife and Countryside Act 1981 prohibits certain methods of killing and taking it, and removing them may require a licence.[4]

...so it would seem they are afforded some degree of protection. I'm pretty sure that's the case here in France too, not that all give a toss. I'm surprised we've not had hunters in the loft too!

 

[Wheeledweenie]

There's a massive colony of them in a farmhouse/campsite I spent many a rainy week in as a teenager on music camps. They are indeed protected so we culdn't get rid of them. They're incredibly cute and used to run along the roof beams during orchestra rehearsals. One fell off onto the conductor's music stand once. It got up, stared back at the 50-odd people staring at him then hopped off and ran away.

 

[palinurus]

We had one in our lab recently. It climbed up in among the lab coats and attached itself to one. Boss put on her lab coat with it attached to the sleeve.

Put down a trap but although it was seen a couple of times sitting on top of it we never caught it. Hasn't been seen since.

 

[swee'pea99]

I notice none of the links offers serving suggestions, which seems a bit slack.

 

[akaAndrew]

Be creative swee'pea. But, if you must, simply wipe it's nose and arse and whack it between 2 bits of bread.

 

[palinurus]

A quick Googling brought up this recipe for edible doormouse soup.

4 edible dormice
Flour
Oil
2 potatoes
Bouquet garni
Salt Pepper
Lemon peel
Vinegar (Wine or Balsamic)

Skin and gut the dormice and lay them flat. Gently flour them all over.
Fry the dormice in a little oil until browned.
Scald the potatoes unpeeled in water then peel and quarter them.
Add potatoes to the dormouse pan and toss in the juices and oil.
Transfer to a saucepan and de glaze the pan with water and a little wine if liked. You should have about ¾ pint of liquid.
Pour the liquid over the mice and potatoes.
Add some zested lemon peel and simmer slowly until the potatoes break up and the soup is thick.
Just before serving sprinkle on some wine vinegar

 

[akaAndrew]

Pour the liquid over the mice and potatoes.

That just sounds so weird.

 

[Coco]

Can't vouch for dormice, but Guinea pigs are quite tasty.