Mice return to place where first discovered

More than 150 nests of the tiny mammal, immortalised by Beatrix Potter, have been found around the village of Selborne, Hampshire, where it has been thought to be locally extinct for more than 25 years.

Its return to the village, birthplace of famous naturalist Gilbert White who first distinguished the harvest mouse, micromys minutus, as a species in 1767, comes after work by a “farmer cluster” to manage the landscape for wildlife.

The farmer cluster project brings together local farmers to work to protect a wider landscape than their own farmland. Farmers around Selborne worked with volunteers to conduct surveys of field mice nests and carry out work including planting hedges and maintaining grass strips around arable fields to create connected habitats for birds, small mammals and insects. Harvest mice are classed as a species for priority conservation action, in decline as a result of loss of habitat such as hedgerows and modern farming practices.

The scheme in Selborne, one of nine clusters in England, consists of 11 farmers, covering 4,000 hectares of land, and is led by the Game and Wildlife Conservation Trust with financial support and advice from government agency Natural England.

Environment Secretary Elizabeth Truss said: “As an avid reader of Beatrix Potter in my youth I am delighted that the iconic harvest mouse has been rediscovered in the very area in which it was first identified.”