NOTTINGHAMSHIRE WILDLIFE TRUST

HARVEST MICE SURVEY

RUSHCLIFFE HARVEST MICE

Rushcliffe is proving to be a fruitful hunting ground for these wee cute creatures. There have been records for Fairham Brook, Wilwell and Pastures Lane Ruddington thanks to surveys by Malcolm Varley.

But starting in 2000 Nottingham Urban Wildlife have been checking mice sites along the urban fringe. However the survey strayed into Rushcliffe and has identified a series of colonies along the Fairham Brook at Ruddington Station, the Great Central Railway, Rushcliffe Country Park, Keyworth Meadow, Bunny, Wysall and at Hickling.

It would be useful to extend this search into other parts of Rushcliffe. Therefore we are hoping to organise another training morning (possibly at Keyworth Meadow) next Autumn. If you are interested in taking part please contact Gordon Dyne (0115 9843934).

HARVEST MOUSE TRAINING DAY

Harvest mice were identified as a new species as recently as 1767. It has been thought that the species had declined in numbers and distribution, and today they are believed to be absent from parts of the Midlands. As it`s presence is generally only detected by finding the used breeding nests in the autumn, doubt as to their true situation is unsurprising.

Inspired by a training day at Fairham Brook reserve in 2000, I have located several sites in Rushcliffe. They are almost certainly more common than was generally thought. I had no idea that they were present at Keyworth Meadow (and after my first nest finding efforts I'd concluded that they weren't!). But in 2002 I found nine, and they are almost certainly present in field corners and roadside verges near you.

It would be great to see if this is the case, and provide a really good baseline knowledge of their pattern of distribution in Nottinghamshire. To this end I'm hosting a harvest mouse training session on 11th and 12th October this year (probably at Keyworth Meadow). It is undoubtedly the case that one needs to get one's eye in to locate the nests. Details will be confirmed later, but if you are interested, contact me on 0115 9144896 or 01332 683431 or (preferably) neil.pinder@ntlworld.com.

Neil Pinder