Goldie M

[Pauline]

Looking at the ears and tail Goldie my guess would be a little Wood mouse. Px

[Goldie M]

Hi! Pauline , more wishful thinking on my part Goldie

[MikeOxon]

Sadly, Goldie, Dormouse is nowadays very unlikely, being a rare and endangered species, largely confined to a few areas in Southern England. I agree with Pauline that yours is most likely to be a Wood Mouse. They are regular visitors to the feeders in my garden and can be quite bold in daylight. They sometimes come quite close, when we are eating in the garden on warm days.

I snapped this confrontation between Mouse and Robin in our garden back in 2010. (feel free to delete my intrusion into your personal diary)

Abingdon, Oxon - 12th December 2010
Nikon D300s with 300mm lens - 1/45s@f/5.6 ISO 1250

Mike

[Neil Freeman]

Hi Goldie, as Pauline and Mike say, yours is certainly a Wood Mouse. Can be told apart from the common House Mouse by larger eyes and ears and a longer tail. Also most mice seen outdoors are likely to be Wood Mice.
Great photos though, I have never seen one up on a hanging bird feeder before although I do have seen them scavenging food from under mine.

Cheers,

Neil.

[Goldie M]

Thanks Mike and Neil, I realised Dore Mice were scarce but I didn't know they were confined to the South.

I'll keep your photo Mike , it's so cute the Robin looks most indignant

I couldn't believe it myself Neil when I first saw the Mouse going up the tree, I couldn't get the camera out quick enough Goldie

[Padfield]

Hi Goldie. Just to confirm the IDs of those Hong Kong butterflies, as I said I would. The only thing to add is that if you look Athyma nefte up on the web you will see quite a variety of forms, especially in the female. Your friend's is a male of the subspecies seitzi.

And I can't resist the temptation, if you will forgive me, to post a picture on your page of the dormouse that came into my kitchen last year. This is a different, much larger species than you get in the UK, but you can easily see that they are not really very mouse like, with a furry tail rather than a scaly one.



Guy

[MikeOxon]

...And I can't resist the temptation, if you will forgive me, to post a picture on your page of the dormouse that came into my kitchen last year. This is a different, much larger species than you get in the UK, but you can easily see that they are not really very mouse like, with a furry tail rather than a scaly one...

I think the larger species is probably a Glis glis - known as the edible dormouse, because it was considered a delicacy by the Romans. Was this example entering your kitchen because it was emulating the dish in "The Restaurant at the End of the Universe"? [Douglas Adams]

As a result of an escape from the Rothschild collection at Tring, there is a British population around the Chiltern Hills, near Aylesbury.

[David M]

That dormouse of yours, Guy, is almost a chipmunk or even a squirrel!

What did you do with it? Did you let it eat from the table or did you shoo it out?

[Padfield]

Was this example entering your kitchen because it was emulating the dish in "The Restaurant at the End of the Universe"? [Douglas Adams]

It's more likely it came for a tea party [Lewis Carroll]!

I closed the door, turned the light out and opened the window, David (not in that order). It realised there was no tea and moved on, out into the night.

Sorry to invade your space, Goldie. Just ask and I can delete posts from your diary.

Guy

[David M]

I'm sure Goldie will enjoy this little 'aside', Guy. We all love to see these animals, but few of us get to have them as visitors at our dining tables!!!

I shall bear your tutorial in mind should I ever receive similar 'guests'!

[Goldie M]

Hi! Guy, It's so cute, lovely bushy tail too, I don't think I'd want it in my kitchen though.
I'll keep the photo in my animals album, I love shots of unusual Birds and Animals.
I'll tell my nephew about the Butterfly and get him to look it up I'm sure he'll be interested.

Talking of Birds, I went to Yarrow Valley CP yesterday having first visited Hall-Lee-Brook CP, the difference in the two parks was stark ; at HLB I saw one Butterfly a Small White, there were no Blue Bells out, no Garlic Flowers out by the stream it was all together disappointing, that's why we decided to visit YVCP.

We didn't know what to expect but compared to HLB it was like walking into a different world , Garlic flowers every where, loads of Blue bells and flying passed my head my very first sight of an Orange Tip
Has the day warmed up I saw two more OT's but couldn't get any shots, I'd put a couple sanwiches up and a flask so after having lunch we set off once more.

By this time I was tired so we sat down on a bench for a rest and would you believe it this OT landed to the side of me opened it's wings has much say "well I'm here get your shot" (which I did) and off it flew.

On our way back to the car park I caught sight of a PC BF and this Gray Wagtail ,(hope I've got it's name right) what a great day we had after such horrible weather. Goldie

[Pauline]

Smashing shot of the OT Goldie - quite like the little Wagtail too

[Goldie M]

Thanks Pauline, how lucky can you get when the BF joins you. The wagtail was very busy and a joy to watch, paddling a way in the stream

Some one has purposely set fire to Heysham Moss, in 2014 the Large heath was reintroduced back there, Chester Zoo helped with it's introduction and now the heath has been destroyed over two or three nights in an arson attack, police are looking for the culprits, I felt really sorry for the men who'd worked so hard they were on news from the North tonight and they looked dejected.Goldie

[Neil Freeman]

Glad you got your Orange-tip Goldie, nice photo too

I remember reading about the Large Heath re-introduction at Heysham Moss a few years ago. Sorry to hear about the fire, that is terrible news.

Cheers,

Neil

[David M]

At last! Well done, Goldie. The first Orange Tip of the year is always a special moment.

[millerd]

That's a nice Orange Tip, Goldie. I hope you see a few more over the next few weeks. As they've been slow to appear in your area, they'll probably carry on longer too!

Dave

[Goldie M]

Thanks Neil and David. It was great just to see the Orange Tip, to get a decent shot after seeing them fly passed a few times was best.

It was a real disaster at Heysham Moss Neil, like the Ranger said, the plants they need will grow back but the Large Heath was in Chrysalis form and even if some were caterpillar's there's no plants for them, I just hope they catch who ever did it, it was done over two to three nights so obviously deliberate.

Thanks Dave, the weather doesn't seem too good next week, I'll have to try to get out this weekend and try for the GHS next Goldie

[Wurzel]

Great shots of the Grey Wagtail Goldie and you got your OT Make the most of it though as the MET are forecasting heavy wintry showers over the Bank Holdiay weekend

Have a goodun

Wurzel

[Goldie M]

Thanks Wurzel, I'm not looking forward to the weather next week but today I'd a good day Butterflying ,so can afford to relax and let the weather do it's worst for a week.

I decided because I'd seen the OT at Yarrow Valley I'd go there, the flowers were great but no OT's so I thought I'd go back to Hall-Lee-Brook, the weather had warmed up and there was less cloud after lunch so back we went, I'd only just got through the gate and we spotted an Holly Blue, (fantastic) I'd to chase it round a bit to get a shot but when it went puddling( or so I thought) I managed one or two.

We carried on looking round and when I saw a flash of White I tried to get through some briers without much success, so I'd to be content with wings and no head My first Green Veined White ( at least I saw one)

Further round the field we came across a Small Tort, so that was another one chalked up

After that we saw four are five Speckies soaring high and when they landed I managed another shot of one

The best was to come though has we got back to the gate this very small Butterfly came along and I couldn't believe it when I saw it was a Female Orange Tip What a difference a day can make Goldie

[bugboy]

A good range of spring species there Goldie . Like the Grey Wagtail earlier as well