[S]arah Nicholson of the Cumbria Biodiversity Data Centre (CBDC) wants to know if you have seen a house mouse.
Sarah said “CBDC has 2.2 million records of wildlife that has been seen in Cumbria over the last 100 years. Whilst working on the data I noticed that people rarely tell us that they have seen a house mouse. In fact, only 29 records have been submitted in the last 15 years.”
John Martin, Cumbria Mammal Group told us “I believe the house mouse is declining. This is possibly due to more effective pest control methods and loss of habitat in newer and better built homes.”
CBDC hopes that the house mouse is under-recorded and not declining, but needs your help to find out.
Anyone wanting to tell CBDC about one they have seen (dead or alive) or just find out more should visit www.cbdc.org.uk, call 01228 618717, or email [email protected]
Sarah has developed a webpage with house mouse identification advice, photographs, and a record form and said “Ideally we would like to receive clear photos of the head and the upperside and underneath of the body to be able to check the identification, but CBDC is happy to receive any evidence. This might be a video, pictures of what the cat bought in or a mouse trap. And if there are any pest control officers who can help we would like to hear from them too. It will all help us get a better picture of the house mouse population in Cumbria.”
