Country diary: What's up, mouse? There's much here looking to kill you

Wenlock Edge, Shropshire: Visible, exposed, vulnerable, we both look out at this ominous worldWhat's up, mouse? Your eyes are half-closed as though you have just emerged from your hole in the wall and are squinting into bright spring sunshine for the first time, or maybe the last. You look a bit shaky to be out in daylight, perhaps ill or old.Behind you is a labyrinth through the stone wall, dark tunnels and chambers that protect you during the day until your night-time foraging. There are so many out here looking to kill you, day or night. You are, or were once, too quick to get caught, too knowledgable of the secret ways to be detected. You will never know that the little dribbles of urine you leave as scent-lines and messages for other mice light up like neon to birds such as kestrels and owls that see infrared. Continue reading...