Britain's hazel dormice have declined by 70% since 2000, according to the new State of Britain’s Dormice 2023 report. Since the last report in 2019, dormice have been lost from Staffordshire, Northumberland and Hertfordshire. The decline means that they are now locally extinct from 20 English counties.
Habitat loss and poor management of woodlands and hedgerows, exacerbated by climate change, are the main reasons for the stark decline.
The People's Trust for Endangered Species (PTES) report highlights the need for dormice to be classified as ‘Endangered’ on the IUCN Red List, rather than ‘Vulnerable’.
Yet despite the startling statistics, conservation projects offer hope for Britain's native hazel dormouse.
Ian White, Dormouse & Training Officer at People’s Trust for Endangered Species, said: “If the decline continues at the same rate, in another 30 years dormouse populations will have fallen by 94% since 2000, which we simply cannot let happen.
“The wealth of data from our monitoring programme gives a unique insight into how dormice are faring and contributes to major reports such as the recent State of Nature, which drives wider conservation efforts.
“Armed with the latest facts we need to continue pushing for dormice to urgently be reclassified as ‘Endangered’ on the IUCN Red List, and we need to start rolling-out more footprint tunnel surveys (as well as nest box checks) in non-woodland habitats such as hedgerows, scrub, roadside and railway verges.
“Footprint tunnels will allow us to gain a more complete picture of how dormice are faring across multiple habitats rather than just woodlands. Once we have data from non-woodland sites too, we can target conservation efforts more widely which we hope will start to reverse the decline.”
Hazel dormouse conservation
Despite the dire statistics, there is hope for the hazel dormouse, with projects such as PTES’ annual reintroduction programme bolstering some local populations.
Since 1993, PTES and partners have released over 1,112 hazel dormice into 25 different woodlands across 13 counties. There are also a number of habitat restorations projects being implemented in Wales, Warwickshire, Yorkshire and Hampshire.
“Dormice continue to face an uncertain future as our climate and countryside change,” concluded Ian White.
“Declines on this scale cannot be fixed overnight, so it will take time before we see if our conservation work is effective. We know what works for dormice, but we urgently need increased funding to implement this nationally. Hope is not lost as reintroductions, monitoring, research and landscape projects offer a lifeline - and some populations appear to be thriving - but we need to do everything we can on a much bigger scale to prevent the worst case from happening.”
Find out more about the State of Britain’s Dormice 2023 report.