In 2021, Northumberland Wildlife Trust’s Catch My Drift project team released 200 harvest mice onto its East Chevington reserve and which led to the discovery of 12 nests five months later.

Now, exactly one year since this discovery, the news from the Druridge Bay team is that, volunteers have found five more nests in the same area.

Even more exciting is the news that a further 13 nests have been found, totally by accident, over one mile away from all the other nests. This takes the total number of nests discovered this year to 18.

The discovery was made by Catch My Drift volunteer James Hislop whilst carrying out a worm survey.  Having assisted with previous harvest mice surveys, he instantly recognised the round nest made from grass and the size of a tennis ball.

Sophie Webster, Catch My Drift Project Officer says:

“After the first nest was discovered, we decided to have a quick look in the surrounding area over lunch to see if there were any more. We just kept on finding them, which spurred us on to keep looking and for all we know, there may be even more.

“Weighing the same as a 10p coin, harvest mice numbers have declined throughout the UK in the last 40 years and are now quite rare; so to find so many new nests, and 13, over a mile away is a wonderful sign that they are not only breeding but using habitat corridors to expand and establish populations around the reserve.  Who knows how many there will be in future years?”

The Catch My Drift project at East Chevington is a three-year initiative backed by £418,000 from National Lottery players, via The National Lottery Heritage Fund, to improve the reserve’s habitats, species numbers and upgrade access to the Druridge Bay site.