House mice and wood mice in and around an agricultural building

Abstract

Wood mice Apodemus sylvaticus and house mice Mus domesticus are two of the commonest and most intensively studied British mammals. However, relative to the vast literature on non-commensal and laboratory house mice (Berry, 1981, 1991), and woodland wood mice (Flowerdew, Gurnell & Gipps, 1985; Flowerdew, 1991) little is known of the ecology of either species in and around farm buildings. Farm buildings and their surroundings are particularly important for house mice, which are a major stored-product pest (Meehan, 1984). In Britain they live largely indoors but also make limited use of hedges and fields in the summer (Rowe & Swinney, 1977; Montgomery & Dowie, 1993). Wood mice are very abundant on agricultural land, and occasionally use buildings (Green, 1979; Montgomery & Dowie, 1993; Tew & Macdonald, 1993).