Harvest Mouse and nest

[John Robinson]

Harvest Mouse and Nest( Semi captive)
Some explanation may be of interest,
This was taken in a large breeding pen many years back in 1970
Any one of a naturalist backdrop would know this as a set up as they dont very often nest in cultivated crops. Usually in long grass/sedges/rushes/ reeds etc. Mechanised farming drove them from the wheat fiiels.
It is often easy to see the captive ones as they usually chew their tails. The other thing is that the nests dont have holes in the sides. The mice just push
their way through from any point.
Pentax Spotmatic
Mecablitz 402 -twinheads
Copied off ecktachrome 100 ISO
Cheers
JohnR
PS These can be purchased for abot £10 each !!!

[dennis greenwood]

A very appealing image John

[John Robinson]

Cheers Den
I don't like posting captive stuff as such but you'd have a job to do these in the wild(even if you could find some)
Cheers
John

[Mike Poole]

Nothing wrong with posting captives John - you declared it so not an issue for me.

I wouldn't have known about the nesting, so good to add to the knowledge base. As a shot it's very nice, sweet little subject in an interesting setting, I'd just be tempted to get rid of one of the catchlights.

Mike

[John Robinson]

Cheers
Mike. Agree about the catchlight.
John

[haseeb badar]

Hi John -- cute stuff ! I like the framing and colours . i do see a bit of noise in the image . easy fix !! TFS !

[Arthur Morris]

Hi John,
I am curious about the term "semi-captive." Please educate me :) a

[John Robinson]

Thanks
Arthur
Basically because it was in a very large out door enclosure as opposed to the smaller cages that people usually keep these in. call it captive- no big deal. I don't think I,ve ever seen one done in the "pure" wild.! Some folks used to put the stem they wanted to photo them on and stand it in water. The animal then had no choice.!!! As a matter of interest Arthur- I had a pic sent to me last week of 37 photography vehicles around a lion kill.Still classed as "wld" though.
Cheers
John
Thanks for looking

[Stuart Philpott]

John this is just wonderful an animal I have always wanted to see since childhood,and still blank. Thanks also for the education about their nest John

So lovely thanks so much for sharing this

take care

Stu

[John Robinson]

Thanks Stuart. Glad you found the info useful
John