BEYOND BIRDWATCHING

September is a restless month, says James Lowen, with creatures great and small rushing to complete reproductive cycles

MAMMAL

HARVEST MOUSE Even if its populations are at their annual peak, swollen with the year’s youngsters, seeing a Harvest Mouse in the wild, as you wander autumn fields and fens, is a mighty challenge . Considerably easier (but still by no means guaranteed) is to join a small-mammal trapping session run by a county mammal society. Traps are baited and packed with bedding to encourage warm-blooded visitors; they cause the temporary captives no harm. Big-eyed and caramel in pelage, the Harvest Mouse is an endearing creature – and all the more so should it curl its prehensile tail around a plant stem. LANDSCAPE