Harvest Mice on the towpath

Fran found an apparently-dead Harvest Mouse in the stairwell of her boat. It must have dropped down in the night, and been unable to escape. We put them into a box and gave them some water and a blackberry, and they revived remarkably quickly, tucking into the blackberry with relish. 

Presently, we liberated them on the towpath, and they went scampering off into the tall vegetation, making good use of their prehensile tail. 

It hadn't occurred to me that Harvest Mice would be a thing along the canal, until last autumn when I found a nest in the reeds at Widbrook, near Bradford on Avon. This time, it was up in the Vale of Pewsey. That's Martinsell Hill in the background. And Fran's boat there below.