29th December - Going Clip Clippity Clop on the Stairs

Over the last two nights we have heard the scampering of little feet above our heads while in bed at night, the scampering sometimes being replaced by the thud of something being dropped or moved.  We frequently get Starlings trapped in the loft and we can hear them as the flap against the porthole window.  Our night visitor was not a Starling though, and I was concerned it may be something bigger.

Overnight I placed the camera trap in the roof space under the insulation, this afternoon I bought some rat poison, and a mouse trap.  However as I well know, I should have checked the camera trap first!  There were three recordings, all very poor due to the only position I could get the camera into.  But at 03.51 this morning I managed to record our visitor, and as you can see from the image it wasn't a rat, nor a house mouse, but a little Wood Mouse.  It may even be the wood mouse that I had filmed in the garden during the last winter.  It obviously doesn't like the rain and wet weather, but I haven't a clue how it has managed to get in the loft.

Now I was faced with a dilemma.  I couldn't kill it, (which apparently I was happy to do if it was a rat or house mouse), so we went out again all the way to Farnham Homebase and bought a live mouse trap.  The trap is now set, and we shall have to see if it likes peanut butter!