The Dormouse is an endangered species yet we've been successful in helping this lovely creature to thrive in Maulden Wood with the assistance of members of the Beds Natural History Society and the Beds Mammal Group - but we need your help to ensure we can continue this work and make a real difference.

The Maulden Dormouse Project

In 2001, Maulden Wood was chosen as the location to re-introduce the endangered hazel dormouse as part of English Nature’s Species Recovery Programme.  

In the years since, a group of volunteers from the Bedfordshire Dormouse Group has regularly monitored the dormice and it has been found that they have started to spread out of the wood.

The Maulden Dormouse Project aims to support the dormouse re-introduction into the future by raising awareness of the project locally among the communities and landowners around Maulden Wood and supporting the volunteers who monitor the re-introduction.  It is hoped this will encourage beneficial management of hedgerows and woodlands around the wood and also lead to more survey work outside the wood to help monitor the spread of the dormice. 

This project is being supported by the D’Oyly Carte Charitable Trust, the People’s Trust for Endangered Species, the Beds Natural History Society, the Beds Mammal Group and Forestry England who own the wood.

Find out about Dormice

As part of this work we have put together an information sheet about Maulden’s dormice available here.

Other useful sources of information are available here from The Mammal Society and People's Trust for Endangered Species.

Take our Dormice Quiz!

We have put together a short quiz on these delightful creatures. Download your copy here and have a go! You should find all the information you need to answer the questions using the resources listed above.

We need your help!

Please support our efforts to continue helping these beautiful endangered creatures.