Three rare blind mice had a lucky escape this week after workmen found them in a nest beside their dead mother.

After being discovered in Tadworth, Surrey, they were taken to the Wildlife Aid Foundation in Leatherhead.

The tiny rodents are a critically endangered species facing extinction and the rescued hazel dormice are believed to be just a few weeks old.

They were rehydrated before being sent to a specialist orphan feeder who will look after them before they are released into the wild.

A Wildlife Aid Foundation spokesman said: "It is rare to get dormice in as they are a highly protected and critically endangered as a species. It is fortunate that they were bought to us as they would certainly have perished without their mother to feed them."

The hazel dormice were so young and small that they had not yet opened their eyes.