EXMOOR’s tiny dormice have been given a great boost after an appeal for funds to supply dormouse boxes and monitoring raised over £4,000.

Exmoor National Park’s CareMoor for Exmoor Winter Appeal was raising funds for 150 dormouse boxes at three woodland sites to help reverse the decline of one of the world’s most ancient mammals.

“It’s been a very successful campaign and we are extremely grateful for the many generous donations,” said national park funding officer Philip Kiberd.

“Funds received are a great boost for the dormouse on Exmoor and will hopefully go a long way to ensuring the species thrives within the national park.

“We will be starting working at the beginning of January surveying old boxes and purchasing new ones to install over the spring, so they are ready for the summer,” he said.

Dormice were once widespread but are now extinct in some areas and their numbers have halved in the UK over the last 100 years.

The endangered species is still found on Exmoor, which is a nationally important habitat.

Dormouse nesting boxes cost £20 to supply, install and monitor, and the new boxes in Exmoor National Park will be monitored by trained volunteers.

Thousands of pounds have been raised through CareMoor over the last year by local businesses and those who have enjoyed Exmoor, and the funds have supported a range of nature, heritage and access projects across the national park, that would not otherwise have happened.

Anyone interested in being a volunteer dormouse surveyor should visit the Exmoor National Park website and click ‘get involved’. The first volunteer days are on January 4, 5, and 6.