The tiny bat, who is around 10cms long, was rescued from a building in Broughton, Chester on Wednesday 14 November - but it was thought at first that he had died as he was so weak and not moving.

But just as the RSPCA officer who rescued him almost gave up hope, the bat showed signs of life and was taken to the RSPCA’s Stapeley Grange Wildlife Centre, in Nantwich, Cheshire.

Happily, since then he has been getting stronger by the day. If he continues to thrive, he will be released back into the wild soon.

“He weighed just 5g when we came into us, and ideally we’d like them to be 6.5g, which doesn’t sound like much but that extra 1.5g is important to such a small animal,” said Teresa Vicens-Prohens, a veterinary officer at Stapeley Grange.

“He was quite skinny so he may have been stuck in the wall for a few days, which would explain why he was so weak.

“In the last couple of days he has started to take to food. We feed our bat patients mealworms and he is eating his extremely fast!”

The RSPCA is a charity and relies on public donations to exist. It costs the centre £50,000 to feed the 6,500 animals which are admitted every year. Anyone who would like to support the vital work of Stapeley Grange can now donate online at www.justgiving.com/campaigns/charity/rspcahq/stapeleygrange.

A video of the bat can be downloaded here: https://spaces.hightail.com/space/4k1kxT5IyL