FEATURES - Mouse Housing Built By Generous Tennis Fans

Tuesday, 03 August 2010 09:08

Written by Denise Lyons

Tennis balls used at Wimbledon 1982

The RSPB has been overwhelmed by the response to a plea for old tennis balls to be used as harvest mice homes at one of its nature reserves.

And among the potential mice shelters being sent in from all over the UK, the wildlife charity has received a box of six balls that were used at Wimbledon in 1982.

Staff and volunteers at RSPB Fairburn Ings nature reserve near Castleford were amazed to receive hundreds of tennis balls from as far south as Suffolk and as far north as Scotland.

And the balls from the world famous tennis championships, won by Jimmy Connors and Martina Navratilova that year, caused extra excitement.

The tennis balls will be turned into luxurious harvest mouse homes on sticks in the reed beds at Fairburn, creating small entrance holes and stuffing them with hay for comfort.

Finally, each one will have some bird seed sprinkled inside for that extra welcoming touch.

Tennis ball homes are a tried and tested method of helping the tiny mammals, which have declined in the last thirty years.

Farming practises over the last century are believed to be one of the causes and it is hoped that the alternative tennis ball accommodation could help numbers increase.

Laura Bentley, from RSPB Fairburn Ings, says: “We want to say a huge thank you to all the people who sent in balls from near and far, we had no idea we would get so many.

“And it will be interesting to see which lucky mouse takes up residence in the famous Wimbledon balls.”

Staff will find out after the summer if the donated balls that have been turned into mouse homes on the reserve have been used by the new tenants.

Laura says: “We can’t wait to discover if the experiment has been successful at the end of the breeding season and really hope it will attract more mice to the reserve.

“It would be wonderful to know that we have created a habitat suitable for them and shelters where they feel safe to raise their young and they would be a great addition to all the beautiful wildlife at Fairburn Ings.”

For more information about Fairburn Ings visit www.rspb.org.uk/reserves