Jan. 8 (UPI) -- A wildlife photographer in Wales set up a camera in his tool shed to find out why objects were moving around and discovered a "tidy mouse" was cleaning up for him.
Rodney Holbrook, 75, of Builth Wells, said the mystery began with some bird food he stored in the shed ending up in an old pair of shoes.
Holbrook set up a camera in his shed and ended up recording footage of a mouse making nightly visits to round up small items that had been left out and place them into a small tray on the shelf.
"It happens every night without fail," Holbrook told The Washington Post.
He said the rodent, which he dubbed "Welsh Tidy Mouse," usually works alone, but will occasionally be accompanied by one or two other mice.
He said the mouse and its cohorts are apparently placing his left-out items including nails, cable ties and small tools into the tray to hide nuts.
"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," Holbrook told the BBC.
Gareth Davies, founder of Wales-based Pest and Property Solutions, said mice are "miniature hoarders."
"Mice are very inquisitive creatures, and they are hoarders. They love hoarding food and everything else. It's in their nature; they are completely different to rats," Davies said.
Another mouse went viral in 2019 for similarly tidying up a man's shed in Bristol, England. Holbrook said he was familiar with the previous video, which went viral, as he had helped the homeowner repair a wildlife camera.
"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."
