Sleepyheads that hate the rain
Named from dormir, the French for sleep, dormice are nocturnal and hibernate for up to half the year
Their fur is not waterproof so in wet weather, or if food is scarce, they curl into a ball in a state known as torpor
The dormouse in Lewis Carroll’s Alice In Wonderland famously keeps dozing at the Mad Hatter’s Tea Party
They double their body weight before hibernation on a diet of hazelnuts, fruit and insects
Edible dormice, not native to the UK, were baked and stuffed by the Romans and are still eaten in parts of Slovenia and Croatia today.