Mouses near my houses!

OK, no reason to shriek in terror or run for the hills but whilst the weather has been bad I have spotted some visitors in the garden that under normal circumstances would not be welcome. However since the weather has been so bad I will let them off. This poor little House Mouse was attracted into the garden by the seeds that I had put out for the birds. (All filmed in ultra slow motion)

In the garden of the Eco-house

Leicester has its very own Eco-house where folk can go and see how to live environmentally. It all seemed a bit stuffy to me. They recommended against buying windows that could open to save heat waste! However they seemed to have overlooked the great cooling qualities of a nice draft in the summer. The house was boiling, so much so that I ended up moving on to enjoy the garden slightly faster than I expected. I saw this Green Shield Bug (Palomena prisina) enjoying a cultivated ragwort like plant.

Another creature found in the garden was this Speckled Bush-cricket (Leptophyes punctatissima). It seemed to have climbed to the top of a flower stem and wanted to go further and so was reaching for a nearby flower.

On the buddleia I saw another wonderful Painted Lady (Vanessa cardui). It really has been a good year for them.

All in all a little wildlife haven. My garden is much smaller than this and so you would think much less able to attract wildlife?!?! Well check out these images from garden in recent days.

Take a look at this Rose Sawfly (Allantus cinctus) on my rose. This is a different species to the usual yellow bellied Rose Sawflies that I have been following in recent days.

Another visitor to my garden is this House Mouse (Mus musculus) who I found hiding behind our shed. I think he was eating the fallen fruit in the alleyway behind our house. That's enough for now, I'm off to explore somewhere else and see what I can find!