Balfour Beatty Civil Engineering Ltd

Protecting the common dormouse

Pre-construction surveys at the A3 Hindhead scheme confirmed that dormice lived in the wooded area around the site and that further habitat, with good connectivity, existed.

The serious decline of the common dormouse has placed it in the UK's Biodiversity Action Plan, as well as English Nature's Species Recovery Programme. Reluctant to cross open ground, the common dormouse is vulnerable to local extinctions when woodland is lost.

Clearance was undertaken in phases and under the supervision of Specialist Ecologists, phased so that disturbance was minimised. Specialist dormice bridges were erected during clearance works and some permanent bridges were installed to maintain connectivity between the wooded areas. In addition, 100 new dormouse nest boxes were provided. Monitoring has shown that in one area alone, the recorded number of dormice has doubled since 2007.

Read more: Case Study - A3 Common Doormouse

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