[Wombat18]

I was filling my bird feeder from a bag of sunflower seeds when I discovered that the bag had a tenant, a very small, yellowish mouse, which I was holding in my hand.  After a few girly screams (thankfully nobody else on the plot to hear), I dropped the mouse, which was very much alive and whch headed off into the undergrowth after a short, embrassed pause.  Has anyone else encountered harvest mice on their plot, and does anyone know if they are rare or endangered?  I am living near Cambridge in the East of England.

[8doubles]

Could it be a yellow necked mouse? I think that harvest mice tend not to enter  buildings . I`ve seen a few harvests but never a yellow neck.

[Y.E.A.H]

The harvest mouse population has decreased in the last 30 years and they are now rare and mainly found in southern and eastern England, with a few records in the Midlands, the north of England and southern Scotland. They are entirely absent from Ireland.

please view the people's trust for endangered species for more info http://www.ptes.org/index.php?page=163

[Wombat18]

Could it be a yellow necked mouse? I think that harvest mice tend not to enter  buildings . I`ve seen a few harvests but never a yellow neck.

I think it was too small to be a yellow necked mouse, unless it was a very young one.  The colour seemed quite uniform, and the ears were very small.  It could have been a small bank vole perhaps.  Do voles go into sheds?

[8doubles]

No idea if they go into buildings but bank voles often nest under sheets of plywood or corrugated iron on derelict sites so it is quite possible you have some nearby.

[GilbertJessop]

We've got voles everywhere at the moment...not enough owls!

[Y.E.A.H]

yes they do sometimes so do mice and rats and the odd shrew