Avoiding cliches is easier said than done
Mousie Mousie is a 1950's game that we used to play as children. It is still immensely popular with our young grandchildren (4 - 10 years old) and certainly raises the laughter levels in the housie housie! Our current game (Photo 1) is a 2010 version and has seen plenty of use.
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| Photo 1: 2010 Version of Mousie Mousie |
If you've never played this game, here is a video explaining it all.
Mentioning this game was just a way to segue into the main topic of this post which is the re-appearance of field mice (aka wood mice) into the garden. I was just about to set off on my bike to perform my citizen science duties at the Yazor Brook when a movement near the bird feeder caught my eye. I couldn't get too close for fear of frightening the little beastie so this photo (Photo 2) was taken from about 10 feet.
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| Photo 2: Wood Mouse in the Garden (29th March 2026) |
The mouse scuttled back under cover just a few seconds after taking the photograph. We last saw field mice in the garden in the summer of 2024 and I'm afraid the outcome then was not good. At least not for the young mice ...
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| Photo 3: One of Three Dead Field Mice Found in the Garden (September 2024) |
That we see field mice, even in our urban garden, is perhaps not a surprise considering the presence of our bird feeder. It is one of the hazards of feeding our feathered friends in that some food will inevitably fall to the ground. Mind you, the ground feeding birds (e.g. wood pigeon, blackbird, wren robin, house sparrows, dunnock) are usually pretty good at mopping up the mess!
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