Ingham’s World Friday 25th September-Harvest mouse has help

Feasting on a feeder in John Ingham’s garden this morning on the 25th October was a goldfinch.  In 30 years the number of this colourful garden bird has soared since 1995.  And also bird lovers have had a much more profound impact on the population of blackcaps.  These robin sized warblers come to breed in this country every spring in gardens, woodlands and reed beds.  And in autumn they fly to Spain and sometimes as far down as north Africa.  But since the 1950’s blackcaps from Austria have started shunning the Mediterranean and wintering hear.  In 30 years their range has increased by 77 percent and some have overwintered as far north as Scotland.

Sniffer dogs now have a new challenge.  Finding one of our most elusive mammals, the harvest mouse.  These mice are really scarce in Britain so PHD student Emily Howard from a Northhamptonshire college has trained a retriever so the can put satellite tags on these tiny mammals.