Project Dates: 15.10.24 to 15.10.26

Working with volunteers and landowners to raise awareness about harvest mice, their numbers, locations, and habitat needs. 

Building on DEF’s support in 2023-24 season, DEF has committed to a further 2 years of funding for this important project.

Year 1 sadly revealed notable declines in nests found, so it is important to discover if these results were a blip linked to prolonged dry conditions in summer 2023, or part of a more worrying long term trend.

Harvest mice are a national conservation priority species and priority species for the Devon Local Nature Recovery Strategy. 

Devon Mammal Group set up the Harvest Mouse Project in 2016 to address the lack of information known about population numbers and locations in the county. Data is shared with the national harvest mouse survey, to address the lack of data held about the species.

This well established, highly regarded project has trialled innovative ways of surveying for harvest mice while working with volunteers and landowners to raise awareness of their habitat requirements by:

• Running training sessions around the county to find and identify the harvest mouse nests
• Organising group surveys
• Running a camera trapping project
• A map to show where harvest mice have been found
• Piloting a new owl pellet survey to find new locations

 

Harvest mice are at the bottom of the food chain, providing a food source for a wide range of species. Where harvest mice thrive, other species do well too, as seen by sites with large numbers of harvest mice nests and large successful broods of barn owls.

This grant of £14,000 for two further years will enable the project to continue to monitor and look for signs of harvest mice and build on their data set, while engaing with landowners and the community on actions that will enhance habitat to help more harvest mice to survive and thrive. 

Year 1 Impact Update:

• JAN 2024
• MAY 2024

IMPACT UPDATE MAY 2025:

Project Activities: 

• Running fourteen group surveys involving nearly 200 people, three training sessions, and attending three public engagement events
• A successful owl pellet dissection training session was held, which yielded harvest mouse remains from two locations.
• Deployment of four trail cams across the county, successfully capturing harvest mice on camera this year after a gap, along with other species like water shrews.
• Volunteers recorded 122 nests during the project period, with 299 hours of survey effort.

 

Project Impacts: 

• Through the surveys, training session and public engagement events, the project has riased awareness of harvest mice.
• Through the collection of data, the project has significantly contributed to the understanding of harvest mice locations and populations across Devon.
• The development of a partnership with National Highways is exciting, as it could lead to tweaks in their management plans to leave areas of long grass for harvest mice, meaning larger areas of suitable habitat.
• The project’s success has gained support across Devon, suggesting that it would be replicable in other parts of the county and country, leading to better protection and awareness of harvest mice.