Mice to meet you!

Mammal expert Stuart Edmunds introduces the four species of mice you can see in the UK.
When people think of rodents, the first things that spring to mind are often negative. For millennia, humans have lived alongside rodents but often viewed them as pests, due to their habit of raiding food and crop supplies. Yet some are loved and even kept as pets, recognised for their playful and intelligent character.
Rodents are widely misunderstood. They vary greatly in behaviour and appearance. Some have confusing names, like the Hazel Dormouse, which isn’t a mouse at all. And Brown Rats were given the scientific name Rattus norvegicus, but they originated from Asia and not Norway!
We have 18 species of rodent in the UK, including the voles, squirrels, dormice and true mice. The largest native rodent is the Eurasian Beaver, which with a weight of up to 30kg is almost 20 times heavier than the Red Squirrel, our second largest fully native rodent. Of those 18 species, four of them are mice: another widely misunderstood group of mammals.
Mice play a key role in the natural environment; from distributing plant seeds to being prey for animals like owls and foxes. When small rodent populations are low, the number of their predators falls dramatically too. Mice have short life spans in the wild, with an average of just one year. Population sizes can vary with weather conditions and food availability.
None of our true mice hibernate and must feed throughout the year, so there is potential to spot any of them at any time. But even though some mice are more common than others, they can all be hard to spot.
Harvest Mouse

I’ll head straight to the smallest mouse and the UK’s smallest rodent. At around 10g, Harvest Mice are the weight of a 20p piece and so tiny that they are very rarely seen. With a body length of 7cm, chestnut fur and a long, twisty tail that is used to grip plant stems to help them climb, they are easily distinguished from other mice – if you are lucky enough to see one.
They tend to be associated with cereal crop fields, but are found in a variety of places. They like rough grasslands and reedbeds; or anywhere with plants offering long, tall stems, which are perfect for constructing their nests. Up to the size of a tennis ball, these nests are intricately woven onto plant stalks and lined with finer grasses, or anything else with good insulator properties.
Their nests are a key sign that they are present in an area; it is much easier to spot something the size of a tennis ball than a creature smaller than your thumb! Nest hunts are the best way to learn more about harvest mouse distribution in the UK.
Like other mice, they are attracted to seeds and grains. As a result, they occasionally show up unexpectedly around bird feeders during the winter, when natural seed sources are low. They are much more active in spring and summer, when they breed and build nests – but the chances of spotting one is always low!
Did you know? Voles are often mistaken for mice. Bank Voles and Common Voles have smaller eyes (they are more active during the day), smaller ears and often scurry around, unlike mice, which are much bouncier.
House Mouse

This mouse is synonymous with sharing buildings with humans. With lots of free food on offer and central heating, it is easy to see why.
House Mice are usually around twice the weight of harvest mice and have a uniform grey/brown coat. They look similar to rats, but are much smaller and shyer, which is why many people with House Mice raiding their pantries never actually spot the culprit. Although they can be found across most of the UK, they are less dominant than the next two mouse species. So in areas with high numbers of the next two species and low food supplies, House Mice are often absent.
Did you know? Baby mice are called pups, or pinkies, as they are born without fur.
Wood Mouse

The name Wood Mouse is a misnomer as these adaptable mice will live anywhere! As long as they have safe cover and a good supply of food, they are quite happy. Like House Mice, they will happily build nests in wall cavities, sheds and garages. But in a natural environment, they favour making nests in the bases of trees and shrubs. Around the same size as a House Mouse, Wood Mice are more chestnut-brown and have very large eyes and prominent ears. They are found throughout the UK and are the mouse you’re most likely to spot.
Did you know? Wood Mice and Yellow-necked Mice can jump up to 30 times their own body height!
Yellow-necked Mouse

I’ve left the largest and feistiest UK mouse until last! I’ve had years of experience of trapping them as part of small mammal surveys. In my experience, it is safe to say that Yellow-necked Mice are the feistiest of our native mice. With teeth perfect for nibbling through hard nut shells and into fruit stones, they make light work of a human finger.
They are similar in appearance to Wood Mice, but they have a stand-out yellow/brown band across the front of their throat. They are also usually 1.5 times bigger than Wood Mice. Yellow-necks are associated with the native woodlands of Wales and the Marches, but have been found further east into the Midlands on small mammal surveys and sometimes living in people’s garages. Along with Wood Mice, they are attracted to peanuts and bird seeds, so can be easily lured in front of a camera trap to help monitor them. They are very territorial, particularly when food supplies are limited and are dominant over Wood and House Mice.
Did you know? Mice are great climbers and have adapted their natural tree and plant-climbing ability to climbing artificial structures.
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Comments
Fascinating, thankyou! I remember seeing my Rock of Gibraltar Mother jumping on a chair when a mouse hitthe kitchen floor. Sadly for her, I used to keep white mice!
01 Feb 2024 11:25:00
Here in West Sussex RH13 the mice in our loft were all yellow-necked mice.
01 Feb 2024 11:35:00
That was very interesting, thank you.
01 Feb 2024 11:37:00
Extremely interesting
01 Feb 2024 11:42:00
Brilliant I really enjoyed finding out more about any mammals. We had a wood mouse living in our old Volkswagen last winter where we kept the seeds for the birds. We managed to trap it humanely and take it to local woods
01 Feb 2024 11:44:00
I cannot imagine how anyone can not love a mouse. Thanks for this very informative summary and the great pictures
01 Feb 2024 11:54:00
I had never even been aware that there was a Yellow-necked mouse! Thank you for your very clear and interesting guide, though I think I will still be hard-pressed to distinguished between a House and Wood mouse. Photographs impressive. I would have been interested to learn the origin of ‘Dor’ in dormouse. Thank you again.
01 Feb 2024 11:55:00
Sussex Wildlife Trust:
The name “Dormouse” is thought to derive from the French word for sleep, they are literally called “sleepy mouse”
Great little guide and reminder to look out for them. Any harvest mice in Sussex?
01 Feb 2024 12:02:00
Sussex Wildlife Trust:
Yes, Harvest Mice are found in Sussex
We used to have a lot of wood mice living in our front border and queueing at the bird café for a share of the nuts. They seem to have moved on and we now have bank voles living under the shed. We’re rich in wildlife beside the railway line, an important route for all creatures, and regularly have common lizards in the summer basking in our pebbles and paving
01 Feb 2024 12:05:00
We have wood mice in our garden. They eat scraps from the bird table and berries from shrubs in our garden. They’re beautiful little things and I love to sit quietly to watch them.
01 Feb 2024 12:11:00
We cherish all the rodents around our country home, including rats; the babies are so cute. We have been lucky enough to spot voles and shrews too.
01 Feb 2024 12:12:00
We cherish all the rodents around our country home, including rats; the babies are so cute. We have been lucky enough to spot voles and shrews too.
01 Feb 2024 12:15:00
Brilliant essay. So highly informative and readable. Thank you
01 Feb 2024 12:16:00
Thank you for the above. Wood Mice often come into our loft during the winter and we have seen them scaling the wall outside to reach the soffit area, where there is obviously a tiny hole. Even our builder could find nothing but a narrow crack !!!
01 Feb 2024 12:35:00
Excelent article
01 Feb 2024 12:46:00
What a lovely article. I didn’t realise there was so much to learn about mice. I’d never heard of the yellow necked mouse. I’ll put gloves on before I liberate the next one, just in case!
01 Feb 2024 12:53:00
Very interesting article, I shall keep my eyes peeled for signs of Harvest mice this year.
01 Feb 2024 12:56:00
we have house mice all year round in the garden, we feed them oats, nuts and fruit…they are all called Mickey as usually only see one at a time, just love watching them and have videos if you are interested
01 Feb 2024 13:07:00
Interesting as I have been dealing with these this week. They have dug into my plant pots and eaten all my spring bulbs! left the shoots and just eaten the bulb part, I think they are wood mice. Are any of these protected species?
01 Feb 2024 13:10:00
Thank you for a fascinating article. Like every breed of animal, these wonderful creatures are vastly underrated and undervalued
01 Feb 2024 13:19:00
I love these emails !!!!!
01 Feb 2024 13:34:00
I love these identifying aspects of my Wildlife Trust emails! Thank you :o)
01 Feb 2024 13:38:00
I’ve seen all except the Yellow Necked Mouse. Most recently it has been the House Mice. As a child /teen I used to lay between the corn stalks and watch the Harvest Mice building their nests, only wish I’d had a camera then. I’ve also seen Owls taking what I believe to have been Field Mice but you don’t mention these so what were they?
01 Feb 2024 14:08:00
Sussex Wildlife Trust:
Thanks for your comment - Field Mouse is another name for Wood Mouse Apodemus sylvaticus
Thanks for htis info, even though I have lived in the country most of my life, I had not really known which one was which, other than the Harvest mouse.
01 Feb 2024 14:53:00
Several years ago a house mouse invited itself into my kitchen. In the end I had to use a “kind” trap to catch it and released it into a quiet park. Fast forward to another visitor which has taken a liking to my chocolat pains au lait which I was keeping under the stairs. I had to throw several packets away. and move the new packets into the metal cupboard in my office upstairs. Goodbye, Mr Mouse?
01 Feb 2024 14:58:00
Thanks, a very informative article. I have rewilded the area at the back of our garden and I often see mice scurrying out from the habitation piles I’ve left for the wild folk to home over the winter. I’ve yet to identify them though.
01 Feb 2024 15:12:00
I love mice. In fact I love all animals and don’t consider any of them a pest. Rats are incredibly intelligent and make good pets.
The only pest on this planet is Homo sapiens.
01 Feb 2024 15:17:00
In the warmer weather at dusk, I quite often see a woodmouse (and once or twice, two) rushing around my garden – they move like tiny clockwork cartoon mice on wheels – collecting bits of food (I imagine) and then disappearing down between two bricks on the patio. Very sweet!
01 Feb 2024 15:45:00
We have wood mice in our garden. They eat scraps from the bird table and berries from shrubs in our garden. They’re beautiful little things and I love to sit quietly to watch them.
01 Feb 2024 15:47:00
I often find traces of mice in my shed, no doubt collecting any morsels of chicken feed I may have dropped. I used to keep the feed in a cracked dustbin but they found their way in and I discovered 3 of them running round and round at the bottom chasing each other. I released them into the wild and got a better bin.
01 Feb 2024 16:11:00
As always, thank you for the informative and interesting email.
01 Feb 2024 16:43:00
Great article, I love mice and could never understand why people were scared of them or killed them. Sadly, the only time I’ve seen a Harvest mouse was when my cat brought a dead one in, and I have no idea whether the mice I have seen were Wood or House. Hopefully I will be able to identify them next time. Like others, I’ve never heard of the Yellow-Neck mouse before. Thank you for the informative article.
01 Feb 2024 18:26:00
Great article and loved the video. My partner has a mouse living in his ride on lawnmower. It popped out of a crevice in the hood, when he turned it over the other day, looked at him twitching his wiskers, then popped back into the crevice!
01 Feb 2024 18:40:00
I notice you don’t mention shrews, why not?
01 Feb 2024 19:15:00
Sussex Wildlife Trust:
Hi Tony, this blog focused on the four species of true mice found in the UK. Mice are rodents, like Voles, Squirrels and Beaver. Shrews aren't rodents, despite superficial similarities, they are an insectivorous mammal, other members of this family include Hedgehog and Mole
We’ve had mice in the house, but I wouldn’t have known there are variations. Thank you for the information I will take note next time!
01 Feb 2024 19:47:00
I have seen a harvest mouse near me feeding on ears of wheat, yellow neck mouse from a trap in Bedgebury Pinetum
01 Feb 2024 20:33:00
Mice deserve our compassion and love – they’re such charming little animals.
01 Feb 2024 22:08:00
What beautiful pictures! I learned a lot from this article – thank you. I love mice, so sweet. Yes they can be annoying when they leave droppings in your house and eat your food but a small price to pay for sharing space together – we must learn that all animals have the right to live in peace!
01 Feb 2024 23:08:00
Yet another interesting and educational email always learning something new. Mice are such beautiful creatures. Saved a few wood mice along with the odd bat when brought in as gifts from the cats!
02 Feb 2024 06:43:00
Thank you for such an interesting article. Has certainly helped me learn the difference between the rodents that visit our garden.
02 Feb 2024 09:02:00
Thank you for more ‘mice to know’ interesting nature facts :)
02 Feb 2024 10:49:00
My cat lies in wait for the mice in our garden who come for fallen bird food. She never eats them but brings them into the house to play with. Unfortunately they iften die at that stage -or get lost behind our kitchen appliances!
02 Feb 2024 10:59:00
Blooming mice! Devour everything I put out for hedgehogs.
02 Feb 2024 14:23:00
They are such busy, engineers creatures.
They are indeed another modulator of our ecosystems.
Very much appreciated information. Than you so much .
03 Feb 2024 00:02:00
We have wood mice in our garden, original family under the decked terrace. So pretty and fast, definitely good jumpers!
03 Feb 2024 16:52:00
Fascinating article and gorgeous photis thank you. We had a mouse in our house that nibbled my strawberry scented soap and ate through my canvas bag to get some chocolate there. We caught it humanely and released it in our local park but it zoomed out so quickly I barely saw it. It was gone in a flash!
04 Feb 2024 10:33:00
Ahaaa – so I think it must have been a Wood Mouse I saw when I was volunteering with the Sussex Wildlife Trust the other week in St Leonard’s Forest, West Sussex? There seemed to be a couple of them scurrying about, moving very fast near the base of a tree. They were definitely brown and rather small. What’s the verdict? Thanks
04 Feb 2024 17:55:00
Sussex Wildlife Trust:
There's no way to tell for sure from this description. Could well be a Wood Mouse, but could be a Bank Vole as well without a description of the tail/ears. It’ll probably be one of those two!
I love mice, and have seen all of them in the wild except the Harvest Mouse. I have House mice in the walls and ceilings of my house,and I’m happy with that as well. I have a cat so they don’t (I think!) venture into the house .She loves mice as well……. but if she brings them in alive I will attempt a rescue . Yellow Neck mice really are feisty as you rightly said ! I have witnessed them up on their hind legs fighting back at her! They deserve to be rescued after trying to ward off a tryranasaurous sized cat! There are also Dormice around here, as she sadly brought a dead one in years ago . But my near neighbours were lucky enough to have them regularly coming to the hanging bird feeder in their window, after the nuts. It was just lovely to watch, and I was horrified when they cut back the ivy that gave the Dormice access to the feeder!!! Why?! But at least they are somewhere around, even if a ring side view point is no longer available!
Valerie, East Sussex
04 Feb 2024 18:33:00
I’ve spotted Wood Mice and Harvest Mice, a painting of which you can see on my Instagram page.
I love mice – used to keep tame ones as a child.
05 Feb 2024 12:34:00
Thank you for this wonderful insight on mice. Thoroughly enjoyed it and it has opened my eyes to the contribution they make to our lives and our planet..
05 Feb 2024 12:45:00
I learnt a lot from the article and am sorry that I have not seen a mouse for awhile, I had no idea that shrews were not rodents so there is always something different to know. Thanks
06 Feb 2024 14:09:00
Very informative and interesting and nice photos. We had Wood mouse in our garden. I have seen the nests of Harvest mouse at RSPB, nature reserve at Pulborough, but have not seen Harvest mouse, I did not know anything about yellow-necked mouse. Thanks for such a brilliant article.
06 Feb 2024 22:33:00
I have been known to to jump on chairs if there was a mouse in the house! This happened
Often in the winter living a the country.
But when my nature loving son of 5 years brought me a harvest mouse to look at, I fell in
love with wee thing! They are quite lovely! It cured me of my phobia too!
07 Feb 2024 17:58:00
excellent article re mice, I am now able to identify those in my garden – many thannks
08 Feb 2024 12:42:00
I saw a Wood mouse in my deliberately overgrown garden last autumn. It was jumping about each side of the garden path, while I was feeding the birds (with the back door open), every now and again it would go to hide under our garden shed. It was there rushing back and forth for so long I managed to get a couple of not very good photos. Sadly the next day when I went out again there was a mouse tail and head, left on the path about 7 inches appart. Thanks for your pics & info. I love mice, I even make felt ones just for fun. In Sunny Bognor.
08 Feb 2024 16:39:00
Very sweet photos and thank you for the key to identifying the 4 different species. I have 2 mice that live behind a statue in my garden and who partake in the spillage from the bird feeders overhead. Again I’m not sure if they are Wood or Field mice but probably err on the side of Wood. I love watching them rushing out from their hideaway then rushing back again. My whippet is also intrigued because he knows there’s something living behind the statue .
14 Feb 2024 11:25:00
Sussex Wildlife Trust:
Wood Mice and Field Mice are the same thing! AKA Long-tailed Mouse
Yellow necked mice are also extremely fond of plastic electrical insulation !
15 Feb 2024 07:33:00
Sussex Wildlife Trust:
Oh dear!
I didn’t realise there were so many different types of mouse very interesting thank you
17 Mar 2024 11:31:00