Nature’s cupboard can be a winter lifesaver (From Burnley and Pendle Citizen)

Nature’s cupboard can be a winter lifesaver

12:10pm Monday 18th January 2010

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Despite the long range weather forecasters promising us a mild winter this one so far has been one of the worst for many years, perhaps this is the start of what may be called global cooling?

I wondered how our small mammals which live in our woodlands were coping. After one of many sessions of sweeping snow I made my way into Towneley Park woodlands in Burnley to see how they were surviving. I need not have worried.

Several times over the last few years I have looked into the old nests of thrushes and blackbirds.

On this Towneley visit I found a real treasure trove. I found an old nest almost half full of dried rose hips, hawthorn berries, a couple of acorns and some red cotoneaster berries. This was the food hoard of a long tailed field mouse which I think is best called the wood mouse. In autumn this pretty little rodent collects food for the winter and stores it in an old nest.

Scientists have shown that the mice remember where their stores are hidden.

Next time you open your store cupboard remember that nature invented the idea!

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