Wildlife: Birdsters! April is upon usIt's time to post our 'Firsts'!, 1 by kennedyh

kennedyh wrote:
Sorry to start by diverging from the bird scheme, but this was a first as far as photography went. On April 1st, I came home from work and was putting some things down beside the computer, when I saw our cat Smokey behaving oddly darting around the sofa and peering under it. I tipped the sofa back and there was this House Mouse Mus musculus. Smokey darted in and caught it and took it into the corner behind the curtains. I tried to get it from her and it darted back under the sofa! Same scenario, I tipped up the sofa and Smokey caught the mouse and took it back to the corner of the room. She put it down for a moment and this time I managed to grab it by the tail.
Holding mouse in one hand, I collected my camera and went outside (to my surprise Smokey didn't follow me). I got the camera all ready, still holding the mouse and then let it go. It immediately darted off over the grass with me in pursuit and surprisingly I managed to catch it again! I tried again to photograph it, with the camera primed and focused on the mouse while I still held its tail tip. I let go and quickly took two pictures and was able to catch the mouse again. I couldn't bring myself to dispose of it, so I took it out of the garden and released it the other side of the fire break. No doubt it will soon find its way back into the garden and possibly back into the jaws of Smokey. Here is my mouse: