Dormice 'thrive' at National Trust site

The trust hopes the mammals, which typically weigh between 20g and 40g, will have gained enough weight to begin hibernating in the coming weeks and survive the winter ahead.Fi Hailstone, senior ranger for the National Trust at the Killerton estate, said: "When we have warmer weather, it wakes them up and when we have wet springs, that affects their ability to forage when they do wake up. "So having a resilient ecosystem with lots of shelter for them, lots of scrub, lots of things for them to eat [is important].""They love bramble, and I know that bramble has a bit of a bad reputation with a lot of gardeners," Hailstone said."But bramble is the life source, really. It has flowers in the spring, it has berries on it. It's also protective in terms of cover from other predators, so it's a really great place for them to nest."