Dormice found on Suffolk reserve for the first time

Dormouse. Credit Liz Cutting

January 2012. A sleepy surprise has been discovered at an RSPB nature reserve.

For the first time in the wildlife charity's forty-year ownership of Wolves Wood in Suffolk, signs of the rare and elusive dormouse have been found.

Mark Nowers, the warden at RSPB Wolves Wood, said: "This is absolutely fantastic news, which has come out of the blue as a survey in 2004 found no evidence of these creatures. Since then the habitat, both in size and quality, has been improved, clearly to the dormouse's liking."

Liz Cutting, the licensed dormouse-surveyor who made the discovery, said: "Dormouse can live at very low densities and are often difficult to locate. The discovery of dormice at Wolves Wood is testament that if you have a solid block of well-managed woodland with plenty of suitable habitat, dormice will respond."