Talkback: Mice in the garden

I have a small mouse that lives in my garden too. Now onto several generations of mice, can't be the same one. It lived under my old brick bbq, and would even run around the garden whilst we were out there eating, along behind us, and quite happily while I was gardening. I would feed it also, so it had its only little supply of food so didn't have to compete with the birds. Managed to get a photo of it on my iphone, the mouse standing on the top brick of bbq looking into the patio doors at the cat which was looking at the mouse. Sure the mouse knew it wasn't under threat and that it was taunting the cat!

I live on an arable farm (though we are not the  farmers), and there are plenty of the little critters about, both field and house mice, the outdoor type I can live with and dont bother me, but as soon as the cross the threshhold of my home I'm afraid its curtains for them!  I think where ever there are humans there are mice, rats too if you are unlucky, we leave a trail of easy accessible food for them, no matter how tidy we are. Is it true they don't like mint and lavender, if it is maybe growing these in areas out doors where we dont want them may deter them, what do you think! My bug bear is RABBITS, new garden to develop and never had to contend with them before, any tips on resistant plants or deterants will be appreciated. Got moles too, it seems I'm doomed,

I saw a lovely little mouse pinching seeds, mealworms and other goodies from a little dish i had left out for our resident robin, it was snowing and as the snow got deeper it became more determined to forage what it  could. I sat and watched it for over an hour kicking the snow out of its way, he is more than welcome in my garden think he lives under the deck near my pond. 

i wish i had some wildlife in my garden. all i seem to get is slugs and snails!!! would love too see a few hedgehogs or mice or a robin or two! 

Thanks for all your lovely comments

@Milo de Paur The field/wood mouse is better looking! They are brown with big black eyes, big ears and a long tail. The house mouse is greyish in colour, and is the type often kept as a pet.

@oldchippy I'm sorry tohear about your dog, I hope he recovers soon.

@tnkells There are lots of ways to encourage wildlife into your garden. Make sure the wildlife can enter your garden by making holes under your fences, then start by leaving a corner untouched, put up a bird feeder or two, and grow lots of nectar-rich flowers. The wildlife will soon come!

Kate

They recently cut back a lot of dead and diseased trees from the 400 year old woodland across the road from my bungalow and I have noticed a lot more wildlife in my garden, I have a wildlife wall I built at the end of my back garden and I know I have at least 2 resident fieldmice that have made their home in the wall, The Sparrow hawk now hunts in my garden as well now his hunting ground has been decimated in the woodland.....They did plant replacement native trees but it will be a long time before that part of the woodland is back to it's old self....I also have 3hedgehogs and at least 5 native lizards. They took over the wildlife wall as soon as I finished building it last year. And "TNKELLS" if you want hedgehogs in your garden it would be good to build a hedgehog house then contact St Tiggywinkles they have baby and young hedgehogs that were born to late to survive the winter. They are de-flead and you feed and take care of them until they reach a certain weight then they can be put in a cold place to hibernate for the winter. I keep mine in the garden shed once they have reached the right weight to survive hibernation then I release them into the garden when they wake up I had 3 babies this year from mum's that I helped last year

How lovely, angelstar958. Your wildlife wall sounds interesting. Do you have a photo you could show us?

Kate

Kate Bradbury wrote (see)

How lovely, angelstar958. Your wildlife wall sounds interesting. Do you have a photo you could show us?

Kate

This is a picture that was taken of my wild life wall by the local housing trust judges

when I won the Eco-Garden competition that they ran last year

I thought I had mice in the garden (and I probably do) but the ones I saw all looked like their tails had been cropped short.....seems I have a very healthy tribe of bank voles (and a very cheeky rat)

We have woodmice, they disappear under the decking and we find nests in the cluttered garage.  I had a shock once when I lifted the lid on the compost bin to find them nested in it.  They are able to climb the metal pole from which we hang the fat blocks, even the squirrel can't do that!

When I sit outside the shed in the summer, I daren't move my feet because bees constantly come and go underneath the decking.  Very relaxing watching bees going about their business and not minding me.  I spent ages cutting up bamboo sticks to make bee boxes and in 2 years, I've not had a single bee in them.  They obviously prefer the decking, since we have rather a lot of decking (I got rid of the lawn and had it decked and paved) I find that we have more wildlife in the garden than we had previously.   I have tried to plant all the things bee like, and that way I don't feel so guilty when I plant things I like.  I can't survive the summer without my french marigolds!

I love the wildlife wall.  I don't have anywhere suitable for one, but I pile up all my twiggy cuttings at the back of the garden behind shrubs and I know there are lots of things living there.

Rats & mice are not to be encouraged close to human habitation - they belong out in the fields & I am with DragonflyBlue - curtains if they cross the threshhold.   Both rodents are highly destructive if permitted to venture too close & there is no such thing as a 'single' rodent.  Make excellent food for Owls & other birds of prey in their natural place.   They are dirty & a menace in a chicken shed.  Keep the balance - house garden = me   field woods = rodents.

Both house and field mice will, if they can, come indoors when the weather is cold, but tend to decamp in spring.  Yes, they are destructive; I've recently found that they've been chewing the rigid plastic cover on the box holding my drill, and they also made short work of a new pair of boots that I kept in the hall!  We do kill them ( 'Little Nipper' traps ) but I hate doing it, so we try to block up all the holes to prevent them getting in in the first place.  That's not easy; it's said that if you can push an ordinary pencil into a hole, a mouse can get through it.  Our rezzie mice seem to get in via an old Victorian metal air vent, which is jammed open,  and then plot and scheme under the floorboards and pop up in the airing cupboard.  There's one lone mouse, sitting in the cooler, bouncing his ball against the wall.  He's called Hiltz, of course.

Hi Kate,Leo is walking on all fours again,Been up the golf course with him tonight heard a russel under a holly tree,In the leaf litter was a wood mouse best place for them.

Dave Oldchippy