Mouse nest

[Fauna]

Any ideas to what Mouse this nest belongs. It is either a Breeding nest for Harvest mouse or shelter nest for Dormouse, it is 10cm in diameter



It was found along an hedgerow amongst bramble, it was aprox 4ft off ground. It consists mostly of grasses...other materials are leaves and willowherd seeds. Further down the hedge approx 3ft of ground was a non-breeding nest of Harvest mouse..also in bramble.

The nest is going off Friday to be checked but i'm itching to know now

[The Woodman]

I used to breed Harvest Mice, Chris and their nests would be made of finer material, but that maybe because I supplied them with stuff that could be stripped finer. At that height in a bramble bush with the "loose" apparent construction, I'm going with a shelter nest for a dormouse. I've seen a couple in the wild looking very similar.

[Dogghound]

I wrote a Scientific paper and did alot of research into harvest mice and their distribution. This looks like a harvest mouse nest. The hights are perfect. I did indeed find a high number of nests in bramble so the habitat is perfect (with an average height of 43.5cm). Most of my work involved looking for old nests in winter, did the nest have sickle shaped slithers of grain in it? (If grains around) this is a sure sign, despite the lack of doormice here a good way to tell the two apart is micromys usually interlink their nest into plant stems, The inner chamber is made of much finer shredded grass compared to the outer walls which are basically loose grasses. Hope this helps. feel free to ask any questions or PM me

[The Woodman]

As a matter of interest Chris, who is going to check your nest?

[Fauna]

Originally Posted by The Woodman

As a matter of interest Chris, who is going to check your nest?

Pm on the way shortly

[Fauna]

Originally Posted by The Woodman

I used to breed Harvest Mice, Chris and their nests would be made of finer material, but that maybe because I supplied them with stuff that could be stripped finer. At that height in a bramble bush with the "loose" apparent construction, I'm going with a shelter nest for a dormouse. I've seen a couple in the wild looking very similar.

I've never noticed Harvest mouse in the wild(not for the lack of looking that is), to breed them must have been great

[Fauna]

Originally Posted by Dogghound

I wrote a Scientific paper and did alot of research into harvest mice and their distribution. This looks like a harvest mouse nest. The hights are perfect. I did indeed find a high number of nests in bramble so the habitat is perfect (with an average height of 43.5cm). Most of my work involved looking for old nests in winter, did the nest have sickle shaped slithers of grain in it? (If grains around) this is a sure sign, despite the lack of doormice here a good way to tell the two apart is micromys usually interlink their nest into plant stems, The inner chamber is made of much finer shredded grass compared to the outer walls which are basically loose grasses. Hope this helps. feel free to ask any questions or PM me

Thanks for Dogghound

I've done a few surveys over the years for Harvest mouse, but have always found nests in "typical" grassland habitats so to speak, always been constructed purely with grass and of non-breeding size. Harvest mouse are very thin on the ground in my area so have not got much to compare with on variation.

This nest had me confused mostly because it is the first breeding nest i had found and because of locality. Also, i have only seen one Dormouse nest in the past and it looked similer but larger.

The inside of the nest was empty, though it was made up of very fine grass shreadings. Interestinly the nest was'nt woven onto the bramble, more like the bottom of the nest was some what folded over the stem.

The second nest did contain the remains of a dead Harvest mouse(mostly fur) and plenty of droppings.

Cheers again.

[The Woodman]

I've only ever found two harvest mouse nests and as dogghound said, they were both classically intertwined with grass stems, the last one about seven years ago was in reed canary grass.

I helped a friend with a captive breeding scheme for a north west zoo release programme and after a couple of tribulations sent a number of fine litters down.

Spent an hour this morning with a chap who runs a large Dormouse box scheme in South Cumbria and he's shown me nests similar to the one in your image in the past. That's the only basis for my ID and am happy to proved wrong.

[Fauna]

Originally Posted by Fauna

Any ideas to what Mouse this nest belongs. It is either a Breeding nest for Harvest mouse or shelter nest for Dormouse, it is 10cm in diameter



It was found along an hedgerow amongst bramble, it was aprox 4ft off ground. It consists mostly of grasses...other materials are leaves and willowherd seeds. Further down the hedge approx 3ft of ground was a non-breeding nest of Harvest mouse..also in bramble.

The nest is going off Friday to be checked but i'm itching to know now

Just to keep you up to date

The Wildlife trust took this nest off my hands, their Mammal recorder who works heavily with both mentioned species has confirmed this as a Dormouse. Though, i was strongly leaning toward Harvest Mouse for i've found another two nests in the same hedgerow, however both where smaller than that of the pic.

[The Woodman]

Thanks for the update Fauna.

Three questions I'd like to ask as this situation is familiar to me

Does this mean a new hitherto unknown population?
Will the county recorder accept this species record on the evidence?
Will you (someone) continue to monitor the area for further evidence of dormouse?

An interesting situation and thanks for bringing it to WaB.