Woodmouse

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 I thought that having posted yesterday about bank voles I should mention the other common rodent visitor to our garden. We often seen woodmice around the bird feeders.

I am posting an archive  photograph from a couple of years ago and also some trail camera footage from last night when I changed the location of the camera to a copse near the house and baited the area with peanuts .


The woodmouse is Britain's most common and most widespread rodent. It is mostly nocturnal and found nearly anywhere but it avoids open spaces. This mouse is closely related to the yellow necked mouse and is hard to differentiate unless you get a really good look. The yellow necked mouse has a yellow ruff around the neck.  They usually live in underground burrows. I have often discovered them as the unwelcome thieves in my beehives! They are quite to eat the honey and the wax.

Diary Notes.
I was pleased to hear some wildlife notes from a couple of neighbours. A friend from Winton, a village about 3 miles away found a black cap during her annual garden bird count. These little birds are usually migrants only appearing here in the summer. My books do say that a few birds do overwinter in Britain but usually in the warmer South. It is a surprise to find them so far north and at 200m altitude.
Another friend from Hartley (2 miles away) has been so impressed with my trail cam images that he has bought his own and is catching good pictures of roe deer and foxes. The more people who are interested the better!.




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