Conservation Status: Locally Common. A recent survey by the Mammal Society has shown a substantial decline in areas where harvest nests were previously found.
Hertfordshire:Scarce. Patchy distribution. The Hertfordshire Biological Records Centre has a list of Harvest Mice sites recorded in the 1970s which need revisiting to determine if they are still present. Volunteers needed.
Protection: No legal protection.
General Information: The smallest British rodent. Harvest mice inhabit habitats with tall dense vegetation (long grass, reedbeds, sedges, rushes, grassy hedgerows and cereals). The most obvious signs of the presence of Harvest Mice are the characteristic breeding nests woven of grass leaves well above ground level; most easily found in the Autumn. The nests are usually the size of a tennis ball.
Threats: Loss of habitat and changes in habitat management.
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