{Environment secretary credits innovative farming methods for apparent resurgence in harvest mice in Hampshire.}<\/p>\n
Harvest mice have been rediscovered in the village where they were first identified as a species – more than 25 years after they were thought to be extinct in the area.
\nElizabeth Truss, the environment secretary, credited “innovative” new farming methods for the apparent resurgence of the tiny creatures in Selborne village, Hampshire.
\nMore than 150 harvest mice nests have now been discovered in and around the village where naturalist Gilbert White lived when he first identified the micromys minutus as a species in 1767.<\/p>\n
The tiny creatures – Europe’s smallest rodents – are classed as a Priority Species for Conservation in the UK and are threatened by the loss of hedgerows and grassland habitats.<\/p>\n
In Selborne, local farmers have worked together in a “Farmer Cluster” to coordinate land management across the wider area, including hedge planting and maintaining grass headlands around fields to create habitats for birds, small mammals and insects.<\/p>\n
Ms Truss said: “As an avid reader of Beatrix Potter in my youth I\u2019m delighted that the iconic Harvest Mouse has been rediscovered in the very area in which it was first identified.<\/p>\n
“The farmers of Selborne should be congratulated for the innovative approach they have taken to managing their land for the good of the environment and local wildlife.<\/p>\n
“The Selborne farmer cluster is a great example of responsible landowners thinking beyond their own fields, meadows and woodlands and looking at the wider landscape to deliver greater environmental benefits on a larger scale.”<\/p>\n
\u201cThis approach to land management is at the heart of our 25-year Environment Plan, which will bring people together to work in a more co-ordinated way to conserve and enhance the environment. Without a healthy environment, we won\u2019t have a healthy farming industry.\u201d<\/p>\n
Source:The Telegraph:[Harvest mice return to village where species was first discovered->http:\/\/www.telegraph.co.uk\/news\/earth\/wildlife\/12113737\/Harvest-mice-return-to-village-where-species-was-first-discovered.html]<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"
{Environment secretary credits innovative farming methods for apparent resurgence in harvest mice in Hampshire.} Harvest mice have been rediscovered in the village where they were first identified as a species – more than 25 years after they were thought to be extinct in the area. Elizabeth Truss, the environment secretary, credited “innovative” new farming methods […]<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":3,"featured_media":2000071697,"comment_status":"open","ping_status":"open","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[14],"tags":[75],"byline":[2549],"hashtag":[],"class_list":["post-22724","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","has-post-thumbnail","hentry","category-environment","tag-homenews","byline-the-telegraph"],"bylines":[{"id":2549,"name":"The Telegraph","slug":"the-telegraph","description":"","image":{"id":0,"url":"https:\/\/secure.gravatar.com\/avatar\/?s=96&d=mm&f=y&r=g","alt":"Default avatar","title":"Default avatar","caption":"","mime_type":"image\/jpeg","sizes":[]},"user_id":null}],"contributors":[{"id":2549,"name":"The Telegraph","slug":"the-telegraph","description":"","image":{"id":0,"url":"https:\/\/secure.gravatar.com\/avatar\/?s=96&d=mm&f=y&r=g","alt":"Default avatar","title":"Default avatar","caption":"","mime_type":"image\/jpeg","sizes":[]},"user_id":null}],"featured_image":{"id":2000071697,"url":"https:\/\/en-images.igihe.com\/IMG\/logo\/arton22724.jpg","alt":"","caption":"","mime_type":"image\/jpeg","width":0,"height":0,"sizes":{"thumbnail":{"url":"https:\/\/en-images.igihe.com\/IMG\/logo\/arton22724.jpg","width":1,"height":1},"medium":{"url":"https:\/\/en-images.igihe.com\/IMG\/logo\/arton22724.jpg","width":1,"height":1},"medium_large":{"url":"https:\/\/en-images.igihe.com\/IMG\/logo\/arton22724.jpg","width":1,"height":1},"large":{"url":"https:\/\/en-images.igihe.com\/IMG\/logo\/arton22724.jpg","width":1,"height":1},"full":{"url":"https:\/\/en-images.igihe.com\/IMG\/logo\/arton22724.jpg","width":0,"height":0}}},"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/new.igihe.com\/english\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/22724","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/new.igihe.com\/english\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/new.igihe.com\/english\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/new.igihe.com\/english\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/3"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/new.igihe.com\/english\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=22724"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"https:\/\/new.igihe.com\/english\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/22724\/revisions"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/new.igihe.com\/english\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media\/2000071697"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/new.igihe.com\/english\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=22724"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/new.igihe.com\/english\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=22724"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/new.igihe.com\/english\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=22724"},{"taxonomy":"byline","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/new.igihe.com\/english\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/byline?post=22724"},{"taxonomy":"hashtag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/new.igihe.com\/english\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/hashtag?post=22724"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}