On Thursday, the sun shone as we embarked on our annual Harvest Mouse nest survey along the Wildlife Watchpoint bund and the rank grassland along the northern edge of the Meadow. This involves a fingertip search to find the ball shaped nests of Harvest Mice as they leave the reedbeds in the autumn to head for warmer climes of tussocky grassland. However, it's not that effective as a survey method. We know we have a reasonable number of Harvest Mice as we encounter them during management operations. We have even found one on Paddy's Island. Yet, this technique only reveals one or two nests each time we do it. Time for a re-think ?
Yesterday we found two nests. They are easily told from vole nests as vole nests contain more shredded material, while Harvest Mouse nests contain longer grass stems woven together.
The woven grass can clearly be seen in this photograph. No mice were in attendance or harmed during the making of this blog.