Yellow-Necked Mouse
In recent days the Cheshire Mammal Group (CMaG) have begun a series of surveys in search of a mouse. This mouse is feisty and seems to relish getting it's gnashers buried in a handlers digits. This mouse gets due respect. This mouse is the Yellow-necked Mouse.
It was first found in Cheshire in 2011 and at the same site in 2012, on the southern boundary of the county, in the Wych Valley on the border with Shropshire. We wanted to know if that was its northward limit. So we planned a survey to help us plot its distribution which entailed pulling together our collective trap resources. So, on the morning of 29th November 2013, I was assisted by fellow mammalogist, Paul Hill, to prep 240 Longworth and Trip Traps. 8 pints of casters, a packet and a half of dark chocolate digestive biscuits, many pints of grain and copious amounts of hay later, were ready to roll.
©Jeff Clarke Ecology 2013