Maurice The Mouse

Let me introduce you. This is Maurice the Mouse. I hope he doesn’t scare you, because he scared the life out of me.

Watching The Birds

The photograph was taken by myself one morning a few weeks ago. I was standing at the kitchen window, appreciating all that is good about nature on a sunny day. One of my favourite things is to watch the birds, all sorts, Blue Tits, Coal Tits, Robins, Sparrows, Dunnocks and a whole host that I can’t remember their names. At first, I never saw Maurice the mouse, but there he was, sat as large as life and not bothered one bit by my presence. Perhaps he knows I wouldn’t hurt him?

He’s Photogenic

As soon as I knew he was there, my legs turned to jelly and I had that strange feeling of sudden anxiety, that illogical feeling of fear caused by such a tiny animal. I think it must be the same feeling that people who are frightened of spiders get, although, they don’t worry me. Gathering my senses through this mental turmoil, I managed to go and get my camera. How I stopped fumbling enough to set it up, I’ll never know. Amazingly, Maurice stayed in the same position all the time. It was as though he knew he was having his photograph taken and wanted to pose.

Smile

Click and the job was done and Maurice made a run for it. Unfortunately, he ran into the roof space that is above the central heating space. It’s lagged up there and must be warm. Oh my, that means he’s living in the house, living in the same space as me. Silly thought time ensued and impending doom set in that he’ll probably get into bed with me. I have to get rid of him, I can’t sleep and he’s driving me crazy knowing he’s only a few feet away!

Beware Of The Cat

Another worry was that next doors cat would have him for breakfast at the slightest inkling he knows he’s there. A plan was set up and a humane trap was set outside below the roof space. We put some of the birds’ fat blocks in there to tempt him as we had seen him chomping on the stuff a few days earlier. Personally, I can’t be doing with this sort of thing, it sends me into a panic of complete buffoonery. Thankfully, my wife is very good at dealing with it all. Forward two days and on inspection of the trap, there in the corner was sat, Maurice. He was in good health.

Departure Time

My wife collected the trap, put it in a large bag and put him in the boot of the car. Living in Wales, there are lots of woodland and fields about the place. She drove a couple of miles or so away before releasing Maurice into an overgrown patch of land. We’re both hoping he has made a good start there and is happily ‘mousing’ away in the wild. There’s been no sign of any other mice here since Maurice’s departure and I hope it will stay that way.

If you would like information on all sorts of mouse traps, there’s an article here: