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  The
harvest mice in the captive breeding programme at the
Wildflower and Countryside Centre, Bayfield Estate, Holt,
are always active. The tail is one and a quarter times the length of the
body. The adults have a honey-coloured back and are greyish beneath. The
young aren't much bigger than bumblebees.
They use an old tennis as a nest and there's a maze of burrows in the
straw at the bottom of the cage. Tennis balls are also provided, fixed
on posts amongst the tall grasses, in the meadow area as nesting sites
for the wild population of harvest mice..
  The
centre's border collie comes and site on the bench between
us, watching the harvest mice with wrapt attention, but not showing any
signs of aggression - pouncing for example, or tensing up in preparation
to pounce, as a cat might. 
Richard Bell, richard@willowisland.co.uk
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