Mice and voles are a natural part of the animal life that gardens support. There are four species that are often found in British gardens and sometimes feed on plants, in most cases this is minor and these animals can be considered as part of the

The variety of living organisms (plants, animals, fungi and microorganisms) in a particular environment. Boosting the biodiversity of your garden has many benefits, including supporting wildlife, improving soil health and reducing the likelihood of pest and disease problems.

Mice differ from voles in having tails that are longer than their bodies. The head of a vole, when viewed from the side, has a rounded appearance, whereas a mouse's head is extended forwards. Both mice and voles can feed on a wide range of plants.

Paired grooves may be seen on stems, crocus corms and stored apples, where the rodents' incisor teeth have gnawed. Holes may be seen in the soil where mice or voles have dug down to feed on bulbs, corms or germinating seeds. Remnants of seedlings may be scattered on the soil surface. Field mice sometimes bite off strawberries, other fruits, flower buds and leaves before they are ripe or open and leave the berries in small heaps. Soft areas in a lawn with small heaps of soil on the surface are likely to be due to voles (as opposed to moles) tunnelling just beneath the surface.

Mice and voles can eat the recently sown seeds of peas, beans and sweet corn and kill seedling plants by grazing on the foliage. In cold weather field mice often enter greenhouses and cold frames, where they can destroy many seedlings overnight. They can also enter sheds and feed on stored fruits, such as apples.

Voles sometimes eat the bark of a wide range of woody plants, particularly in winter when vegetation is frozen and less palatable. If bark is lost from all or most of the circumference of a stem, then growth beyond that point dies. On evergreen plants, such as yew and ivy, the dieback may not be noticeable until later in the spring or summer.

Voles make a network of shallow tunnels in the soil and this can give lawns an uneven and soft surface.

Crocus corms and tulip bulbs are often eaten, especially in the first autumn-winter after planting. Established bulbs and corms are less susceptible.

Mice and voles are normally present at low numbers in gardens and can be treated as part of the biodiversity that gardens support. Small rodents can feed on invertebrates such as snails and they themselves fall prey to larger animals including owls. At times when mice or vole populations are high and causing intolerable damage it can be difficult to make much impression on their numbers. Fortunately these rodents do not sustain high populations for long and their numbers will drop back to normal low levels.

• Fitting young or newly planted trees with tree spirals (biodegradable spirals based on potato starch are available) can help reduce damage to bark
• Where possible tolerate or use barriers and contained storage to deter damage from these animals as all methods of control involve killing them
• More information on living with mice can be found in the RSPCA living with series

Mice and voles remain active all year round. The breeding season is between spring and autumn, when field mice and voles can produce up to five litters of four to six young. The young are born underground in nests made of dry grass. These rodents are heavily predated by cats, foxes, stoats, weasels, owls and other birds of prey.