unknown mousey thingibobs

whaleomeloette · #1 (**permalink**) 21-06-2010, 10:10 PM

right, im pretty good at identifying mini mouses when i get to look at them but these things were FAST and i wasnt suspecting it
basically i was walking on the edge of a ploughed field in about feb/march picking up broken pottery and i came to a clump of grass growing in the furrow and 5 little mice belted out right in front of me squeeking. 4 ran into the hedge and 1 ran into the next clump of grass, i was about to pick it up after a seconds umming and arhing (iv been on several courses for trapping and handling dont worry) and it belted off
wasnt any shrew species i saw that much

they had long tail
harvest mousey colour
were in a group of five
very squeeky!
dont think it had a dormouse like tail

im getting a harvest mousey vibe from them. what do you think?

paulthomas · #2 (**permalink**) 23-06-2010, 07:07 AM

Either Wood Mouse, Short-tailed Vole or Bank Vole. If their motion was jumping/bounding then they were Wood Mice. If they scuttled along then it was one of the two vole species and of those two Bank Vole sounds closer to the description. Definitely not Harvest Mice out in the middle of a ploughed field.

whaleomeloette · #3 (**permalink**) 24-06-2010, 01:25 PM

Quote:

Originally Posted by paulthomas

Either Wood Mouse, Short-tailed Vole or Bank Vole. If their motion was jumping/bounding then they were Wood Mice. If they scuttled along then it was one of the two vole species and of those two Bank Vole sounds closer to the description. Definitely not Harvest Mice out in the middle of a ploughed field.

i think it was bouncy! thanks for that!