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This is the adorable moment a tiny harvest mouse managed to climb its way up a dandelion stem before playing with the flower head.

Martin Snelson, 33, captured the 55mm long rodent as it played among the flowers for an hour at Ashton-in-Makerfield in Wigan.

The tiny creature was dwarfed by the flower and ended up covered in dandelion seeds as it rubbed its nose in the familiar white foliage.

Mr Snelson, a maintenance engineer from Warrington, Cheshire, said he felt 'privileged' to photograph the mouse from just five feet away.

He said: 'Not very many people have the chance to see them in the wild, so to get to watch this mouse was released a great honour.'

Harvest mice are typically found in fields of cereal crops, such as wheat and oats, and are also found in tall ground vegetation, such as long grass.

It is the smallest European rodent - with many adults weighing as little as four grams.

On the up: The adorable harvest mouse climbs the dandelion stem at in Ashton-in-Makerfield, Cheshire

Time to play: The 55mm long animal rubbed its nose in the flower head sending dandelion seeds everywhere

Curious: After blowing all the dandelion seeds out, the tiny mouse bounded between two empty flower heads

Oops: The mouse appeared to slip as it bounded between the flower heads but soon managed to climb up

Are you looking at me? The little creature spent more than one our playing among the foliage in Cheshire