Common dormouse  (Muscardinus avellanarius)

The dormouse is found across Europe as far east as the Ural mountains and south to the Mediterranean. In the UK its range is largely restricted to the south of England and Wales. Even here it is threatened by loss and fragmentation of its habitat.

The dormouse lives in dense, deciduous woodland, coppice and thick shrubbery. Hazel coppice is a preferred habitat and the dormouse builds spherical nests of grass and honeysuckle bark situated a few feet from the ground. Here it spends the greater part of the day before emerging after dark to forage high in the canopy.