Wood mouse - Apodemus sylvaticus - Family: Muridae

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Wood mouse - Apodemus sylvaticus
© Paul Keene (Avico Ltd)

The wood mouse, otherwise known as the long-tailed field mouse, is quite a common animal in gardens. As it is nocturnal, like most small mammals in Britain, you are most likely to see it in unfortunate circumstances, hanging from the jaws of your cat!

Wood mice breed quickly and prolifically but most of the young finish in the stomachs of owls, foxes, hedgehogs, stoats, weasels and even adders. As anyone with a cat will know, they move extremely fast and can even bound along. They climb well and do so commonly to reach berries. They can also swim if they have to do so.

The fur is browner than that of the yellow-necked mouse but both species have a small brown chest spot. In the yellow-necked mouse, this extends to an orange cross which links up to the golden brown colouring of the upper side. The wood mouse's tail is almost half its overall length.

Wood mice are catholic in their choice of food. Clover and dandelion leaves are popular as are nuts and berries, and indeed most fruit. They will also eat young slow-worms, birds' eggs, insects and spiders. Another of their dietary habits makes them not always welcome in the garden as they are fond of bulbs and newly sown peas. To avoid peas being eaten, soak them in paraffin before sowing them.

Food

Takes a very wide range of food including seeds, buds, bulbs, snails, earthworms and insects.

Plants

Alder buckthorn, Apple, Bramble, Cowberry, Crab apple, Crowberry, Dandelion, Dog rose, Elder, Field rose, Grape vine, Hawthorn, Hazel, Holly, Pedunculate oak, Red clover, Sessile oak, Strawberry clover, Sulphur clover, Wayfaring tree, White clover, Wild cherry

Prey

Buff-tailed bumble bee, Common carder bumble bee, Common green grasshopper, Field grasshopper, Honey bee, Meadow grasshopper, Moths, Red-tailed bumble bee, Sawflies, Slugs and snails, Speckled bush cricket, Spiders and harvestmen, White-tailed bumble bee, Worms

Predators

Badger, Buzzard, Carrion crow, Fox, Grass snake, Hedgehog, Jackdaw, Kestrel, Little owl, Magpie, Sparrowhawk, Stoat, Tawny owl, Weasel