St. Valentine's Storm

In my room in the roof, the thundering wind sends leaves swirling past the skylight and I’m Dorothy spinning up and up through the middle of the tornado.  

I watch a male sparrow deliver a small white feather to the nest box, better than a dozen red roses.  The female seems unimpressed, maybe she dreams of reclining on scented rose petals? 

 

Soon the rain beats hard on my roof window and I can hardly hear ‘O Mio Babbino Caro,’ or as I now sing, ‘O Mio Babbino Sparrow.’  Now there are no birds to be seen anywhere.  Where have they all gone?  I hope they’re tucked up safe in the thorn-thick hedge. 

Hidden Kingdoms - in Rhydymwyn

It was like a scene from one of those dark crime dramas on telly.  We lined up, a meter apart and began systematically combing through the rough grass, parting the soggy tussocks with wet gloves, searching for clues, like a police forensic team.  Falling sleet and a raven's hollow 'kronk' added to the crime thriller atmosphere.

A scene from Silent Witness?

 

But we weren't looking for anything gruesome, just the golf-ball sized nests of the harvest mouse, Europe's smallest mammal.  The mouse is no bigger than a wine cork,weighs the same as a 20 pence piece and is the only mouse with a prehensile tail for clinging on to the stems of wheat and tall grasses.

Non-breeding harvest mouse nest, custard cream for scale

They are seriously under-recorded and the Mammal Society need volunteers to survey for nests during the winter of 2014. We were gathered on this finger-numbing day to learn how to look and what to look for. Winter is the best time to search so as not to disturb their breeding and because they are easier to find. 
Needless to say, we didn't find any, though someone did find a golf ball in the long grass. Never mind, we found lots of vole nest, tunnels and latrines and it was wonderful to get a vole's eye view of the world and glimpse a tiny bit of their lives. Thankfully there were no kestrels hovering nearby
If you've enjoyed watching Hidden Kingdoms on BBC1, get involved in a harvest mouse survey and catch a glimpse of the hidden world in a field near you.

www.mammal.org.uk/harvestmouse_survey (The Mammal Society)
www.miseproject.ie   (Mammals in a Sustainable Environment)