LOVE shy dormice have not been using a tunnel which was set up help them find new mates.

LOVE shy dormice have not been using a tunnel which was set up help them find new mates.

The 25m wire mesh tunnel was set up in August last year to help dormice living in a canopy of trees in Batts Combe Quarry, Cheddar, to romance new mates.

Wildlife experts, who were filming a show in Cheddar about the difficulties animals in Britain face, discovered the trapped colony of mice in the quarry and were worried the mice would die out because they did not have enough mates to breed with.

Engineers were called in to put up a 'tunnel of love' so they could crawl through and meet new mates.

Cameras were also set up in the construction to record any usage of the passageway, but after nearly 14 months the dormice have not ventured into the tunnel.