Glow in the Dark Pee
Mice, shrews and voles are very active and often use the same pathways to negotiate their way around their territory, and it isn’t unusual for them to wear away a miniature highway beneath the grasses. You would have to know your garden very well to spot this tiny pathway, but if you go out in the dark you may have better luck! Many small rodents have ultraviolet pee!
​
Unfortunately we humans can’t see ultraviolet, but with careful observations and the help of a special black-light torch (the kind sold to detect pet urine) you may just be able to make out the trails and scent marks of your tiny neighbours. Some of the predators that hunt these tiny rodents, like kestrels and buzzards, do have the ability to see ultraviolet and they can detect, from very high up, the trails left by the tiny animals down below, just as if they were sign posts saying “come and get me!” Unfortunately cats also can see ultraviolet.
