Santuary and sustenance in the wetlands.

Marshland and waterside areas are attractive to many mammals because they offer good shelter and varied food. Waterside plants are often luxuriant and include dense masses of tall rushes, reeds and sedges where animals can hide. Clumps of alder growing growing at the water`s edge provide roosting spots for bats in crannies behind fissured bark, alder leaves are also favourable with beavers as they don`t contain many tannins. On wetlands, animals are safe from disturbance because few people, and fewer vehicles, venture for over squelchy ground. Some mammals- bats and water deer for example- live near the water and take advantage of what it offers without getting too wet. But beavers, coypus(these are smaller than a beaver, their is debate whether there are any still living in Britain), water voles, water shrews and otters spend a lot of time in the water. Water voles and coypus feed on waterside plants. So in a few places , do chinese water deer.Leaf eating larvae, including many moth caterpillars, also live on plants and both the larvae and the adults are good food for bats. The water itself also provides a food supply for bats, because the larvae of gnats, mosquitoes, mayflies and many other insects live in the water, emerging in their thousands as they become adults. Damp waterside soils are full of earthworms, which shrews and moles feed on. Fish, frogs and other creatures in the water provide food for the carnivorous otter and mink.

The muridae family.

Part four the house mouse.

Unlike other mice, the house mouse has a strong smell and greasy fur. It taints the places it lives in, which include houses, warehouses, hospitals and other public buildings. Mice also leave their black droppings and their urine wherever they have been, which carry diseases and parasites, they also cause damage by their gnawing. Although house mice only live for about eighteen months, and many die in their first winter, it is hard for humans to get rid of them. They breed so fast that in one summer the mice from one nest will have multiplied many times over. Females bear from five to ten litters in one year with each litter containing up to six young. The young will leave the nest after about three weeks, the females are then ready to breed after about another three weeks. House mice normally live within a couple of metres of their food supply, moving on when food is short. Mice have chisel like front teeth that grow all of the time,  they use to gnaw their way through wires. Many different kinds of stored foods will attract house mice, which is mostly active at night. Alert and nimble, it has prominent ears, big eyes and a pointed face. Its grey-brown coat is greasy and glistening and its tail long and scaly. The male is about seven inches in length including tail, with the female being slightly smaller.  They are widespread, mostly found around buildings but may also be found in hedgerows and on farmland. Males will fight to establish social dominance and a territory. Highly adaptable, house mice can live in all sorts of places. Some even thrive in frozen meat stores, developing longer fur to keep them warm. Where food is plentiful house mice may live in fields and hedgerows during the summer. But few will survive cold weather outdoors, most spend the winter in buildings.