A SERIES of flood alerts were in force on West Oxfordshire rivers and brooks yesterday after recent storms and heavy rain.

The alerts covered the entire length of the River Thames through the district, from Buscot Wick to the edge of Oxford, including Kelmscott, Chimney, Northmoor, Stanton Harcourt and Bablock Hythe, the River Windrush through Burford, Asthall, Minster Lovell, Crawley, Witney, Ducklington, Rack End and Standlake and the River Leach past Little Faringdon.

An alert which had covered the River Evenlode since the Sunday before Christmas was lifted on Monday morning, then reinstated that afternoon.

The high water levels on the Evenlode at Shipton-under-Wychwood on Christmas Eve caught the eye of local resident Clive Taylor, who took the opportunity to go kayaking.

And he came to the rescue of a fieldmouse caught out by the swollen river.

He said: “I spotted the mouse clinging to the top of a teazle above the water, popped it into my jacket and then paddled over to put it back on dry land.”