All living creatures have value and that includes those who can become a problem for human beings. A wildlife photographer named Simon Dell recently stumbled upon a family of mice playing and running about in his garden. While many people may have reached for traps, Simon did something different. He embraced them and actually built a customized miniature village for her new companions. Did the mice appreciate his efforts? It seems so. They rewarded him by letting take some adorable photos for all of us to enjoy. Simon explained to Bored Panda that he was out in his garden taking photos of the birds after he finished mowing his lawn. That’s when he saw something unexpected.
Simon said that he pointed his camera at the ground and was surprised and delighted to see an adorable little house mouse standing up like a meerkat in the freshly cut grass. He says that he knew instantly that this brave little fellow as a star, so Simon ran back into the house to get some peanuts to offer the little guy for a snack. After Simon put the peanuts on the ground, a few minutes later, the little mouse rushed back to enjoy his treats. Simon says that at that point, he knew that he wanted to give this tiny creature a shelter and a safe place to eat and hide for shelter when he needed it. Not many people would think this way, so we want to say that Simon is a very special human being.
The caring photographer explained that he has some experience taking photos of mice and wildlife because he once had another mouse that lived in his garden shed and only came out after dark. Simon named that mouse Stuart and Stuart was a wood mouse. However, the little guy he discovered in his yard recently was a lot more extroverted and outgoing than Stuart was. Also, Stuart didn’t have a family. He was a bachelor, it seemed. He left Simon in the spring of 2018 and Simon suspects he went off to find a mate. Simon hopes Stuart returns so that he can get to know the new mice in the garden.
Simon sees lots of wildlife in his garden, including different types of birds like house sparrows, starlings, robins, blackbirds, and more. He even saw a grey heron one day and that guy has stolen plenty of the goldfish from Simon’s goldfish ponds. In regards to the mouse family, Simon says that at first, he only saw one mouse. The little guy had a cut in his ear and they named him George. Simon started the village by piling some logs around a box, creating a makeshift home for the creature. He then covered it with moss and straw to reinforce the living structure and shelter.
Predictably, these mice aren’t without danger, even with Simon’s protection. He explained that he could see cats sitting just feet away from the mice on the other side of a nearby fence, so the log pile Simon built gave them some added security. After building the log pile, Simon put up some wire fencing along the same fence, a measure that would prevent the cats from getting to the mice. Simon’s canine companion, a small Jack Russell Terrier dog, adds some safety to the yard that the cats are reluctant to breach. The little dog doesn’t even notice the mice, but he keeps a close eye on the cats.
A couple of days after he began building the shelter, Simon noticed that there was more than one mice inside the log pile. Before long, they were both coming out for their daily meals. After that, Simon decided to build them a more substantial home. He began to be concerned that since he was coercing them out, he may be putting them in danger, so he felt an obligation to provide them with some shelter. Since he’s a photographer, Simon wanted to build the mice something that would be beautiful to photograph, so he put extra effort into the project.
As more mice began to come out and reveal themselves, Simon added more rooms onto the village. The inside of the box structure had two to three ways for the mice to leave and enter so that they could escape if they needed to, rather than being trapped inside with only one way out.
Winter was rolling around, so at one point Simon had to make his little mice village winter-ready so that his little companions would have the best possible chance of survival. Since then, he has counted about five more mice and a pregnant female that he’s named Mildred. He’s hoping to have a nice litter of baby mice soon. Every litter of baby mice can have up to 14 in it, so Simon anticipates building even more rooms onto his village, but he says he has plenty of space and he’s happy to do it. It’s a trade-off for living alongside these photogenic critters, he says.
Naturally, because they are wild animals, Simon can’t get too close to the mice, but he uses his zoom lens to get in for some good photos of them popping in and out to eat seeds and nuts. He provides his mice friends with all-natural food and collects and picks nuts, berries, and fruits that grow in the wild in the nearby Shire Book Valley Local Nature Reserve. Additionally, he gives them the same mixture of seeds that he puts on the bird tables, and that includes sunflower seeds, walnuts, and hazelnuts.
As of now, Simon and his mice are living a very happy life. He has given them some handfuls of feathers from an old pillow to pad their winter nests and beds. Here’s to many years of happy companionship for Simon and his little friends!
All images via Facebook, Simon Dell
