Mouse filmed tidying up man's shed every night

[aum]

< Watch the video at the source page. >

 

Despite being an avid wildlife photographer, retired postman Rodney Holbrook never expected to capture a Ratatouille-style scene unfolding in his own shed.

 

After regularly discovering that things from the night before had been mysteriously tidied, he set up a night vision camera on his workbench.

 

It captured a mouse picking up clothes pegs, corks, nuts and bolts.

 

He has since nicknamed the well-kept rodent Welsh Tidy Mouse.

 

The 75-year-old from Builth Wells, Powys, said the tidying ritual had been going on for two months.

 

"At first I noticed that some food that I was putting out for the birds was ending up in some old shoes I was storing in the shed," he said.

 

"Ninety nine times out of 100 the mouse will tidy up throughout the night.

 

"It is incredible really that they put them all back in the box, I think it's possible that they enjoy it."

 

Mr Holbrook believes the mouse is using the objects to hide away nuts, and so far the arrangement has been working in his favour.

 

"I don't bother to tidy up now, I leave things out of the box and they put it back in its place by the morning," he said.

 

"I think he would tidy my wife away if I left her in there."

 

The mouse places all the bits and bobs back into a pot on the workbench

 

No object seems to trouble the mouse either, as it has even been caught carrying cable ties to the pot.

 

"It's been a bit of an experiment really, I've added different things to the desk to see if they can lift it," said Mr Holbrook.

 

It is not the first time he has come across an organised rodent.

 

When living in Bristol in 2019, his friend reached out for help fixing up a night camera when another mouse was keeping their shed in order.

"That one video went viral and reached people around the world," he said, "So I can't believe here in Builth Wells we have had the same thing happen years later."

 

Source