SPORTING ANSWERS
Odd-looking wood mouse
WILDLIFE
Q Every winter, we have a small invasion of wood mice in our loft. Last winter, I trapped an unusual-looking individual with a pronounced white band across its back. Was this simply an aberrant wood mouse or something else?
A Though I have seen hundreds of wood mice, they have all been conventionally coloured.
However, David Macdonald’s Mammals of Britain & Europe mentions that “silver-grey, piebald, semi-hairless and melanistic forms are known”. This suggests that you are right in your assumption that your mouse is simply an aberrant specimen.
The wood mouse is the most numerous and widespread small rodent in Britain, but is easily confused with the similar yet much less widespread yellow-necked field mouse, which is restricted to southern England (though not the West Country).
The latter has a longer tail and a distinct yellow collar and is apparently much less prone to variation. DT
Buck caught on camera
STALKING
Q I have set up three trail cameras in a wood I shoot to see how many deer might be about. A mature muntjac buck regularly appears on all three cameras. He never comes too close and always stamps his feet when he is in view — not always the same foot, but always a front one. Is this normal behaviour and why does he do it?
A This behaviour is often seen
