Mouse ID please

[JeffH]

I found this little thing in one of my bird feed bins yesterday morning - it had climbed in through a hole in the lid made by one of our local Grey Squirrels.

My small mammal ID skills are very limited - can someone please tell me if it's a House Mouse or a Wood Mouse?

As indicated by the half peanut in the foreground of the photo, it was tiny - body length only about 30mm when hunched up.

Thanks in advance



Jeff
(Schedule 1 Licence holder for Kingfishers, Barn Owls & Avocets)

[davecatt]

Hi Jeff
I believe its a harvest mouse, judging by the colour and the size of the ears.
(the ears of both house and wood mouse are much larger and more prominent than the harvest mouse, also the house mouse tends to be a drab grey colour.)

Dave

[Lance Morgan]

Young Wood Mouse imo

[darrenm]

by the size of the ears i would have also said Harvest Mouse...... it is a cracking photo and very cute whatever it turns out to be

[PMG]

Prob a young wood mouse even tho I can't see its underbelly and neck - harvest mouse are very delicate looking and usually a pale almost gold colour where this is a good rich brown - but I wouldn't argue the toss from this particular pic - but it is cute definitely!

[Dogghound]

This is a yellow necked mouse Apodemus flavicollis, a close relative of the woodmouse. The colour brown/yellow and the bright white undersides with a clear delineation between the colours are diagnostic.

Harvest mice are very different to this, with much blunter faces, a smaller more fur covered tail, smaller body size in comparison to objects on the photo and are unlikely to be found feeding inside bins like this, they are a species of undergrowth, hedgerows etc.

[Lance Morgan]

Yellow necked mouse... learn everyday. Apparently very difficult to tell apart from Wood Mouse.

[vole-woman]

Beautiful!

[shirl]

What a gorgeous mouse and a good photo too

[Tracey.A]

Beautiful photo! I agree with Dogghound (mainly, because he knows his stuff), Yellow-necked mouse, because it seems to have a golden brown line from it's shoulder leading to it's chest The ears look a little small to be a Wood mouse.

Tracey