The rare mouse was found at Wolves Wood in Suffolk and is the first dormouse ever to have been found there.

Mark Nowers, warden at RSPB Wolves Wood, says: “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 woodland habitat at the woods has been expanded and improved, which has obviously pleased the local dormice.

Dormice are small rodents and are a protected species. They spend around six months of the year hibernating in hedges and under the leaf litter in woods, sometimes longer if it is really cold.

Dormice in the UK have suffered a lot from loss of habitat but protected areas are helping their numbers recover.